On the 19th May 2023, the first seminar was held as part of the Hector Project. Heritage, Culture, Norms entitled 'Premodern Composite Polities and Their Importance for the Post-national State'. The invited guests were Prof. Julia Burkhardt (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) and Dr. Paul Srodecki (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel) who delivered papers titled: "Objects, Rituals and Symbolic Communication in Premodern Europe" and "Composite Polities: Terminology & Historiography". The seminar was moderated by dr hab. Krzysztof Fokt (Archival Sources Editions Unit, Faculty of Law and Administration Jagiellonian University). 

In their presentations, the speakers pointed out, among other matters, the importance of the legacy of the monarchy for histographical thought, including the role of personal and real unions of the time. They also emphasised the significance of the coronation ceremony, comparing, for instance, the processes and their development in Hungary and Poland. They also pointed out the dynastic changes that took place on European thrones also by showing the context of the political crises that occurred. In addition, the speakers in their papers made many references to key figures of the era, such as Francis Bacon or Hugo Grotius and Jan Długosz.

After the papers, an extremely fruitful discussion took place both with the audience present in the lecture hall and with participants who were present virtually via the MS TEAMS platform. Among the disputants there were: Prof. Andreas Rüther (University of Bielefeld), Dr Adam Zapała (Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences), Prof. Maciej Mikuła (Jagiellonian University) and Prof. Łukasz Marzec (Jagiellonian University).

This research was funded by the Priority Research Area Heritage under the program Excellence Initiative – Research University at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

The second seminar of the Hector Project. Heritage, Culture, Norms entitled 'Visualisation of Law' was held on the 23rd of June 2023. The invited guest was Dr Colette R. Brunschwig from the University of Zurich, who delivered a paper under the same title. The moderator of the meeting was Dr Mateusz Stępień, Prof. UJ. 

The main focus of the presentation was a reflection and an attempt to answer the question of what law is and what relations arise between law and language. There was also a lot of reflection and an attempt to show extremely interesting examples of the phenomenon of visualisation of law, analysed in a wider context. Dr Brunschwig presented also importance of the Zurich Legal Image Database project, which can serve as a model for the visualisation of Ukraine's heritage, as well as the possible new developments of the Hector project. Heritage, Culture, Norms. 

After the paper, a discussion took place with the participation of Prof. Grażyna Skąpska (Jagiellonian University), Prof. Maciej Mikuła (Jagiellonian University), Dr Michał Dudek (Jagiellonian University), MA Michał Rachalski (Doctoral School in Social Sciences, Jagiellonian University), MA Joanna Kotulska (Jagiellonian University).

This research was funded by the Priority Research Area Heritage under the program Excellence Initiative – Research University at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. 

 

 

The third seminar will be organised by Dr. Hab. Łukasz Marzec and will take place on 14 November 2023. Its theme “Private Law and Public Law: Friends or Enemies?” will explore ways in which private and public law complement each other, and areas where they come into conflict. The invited guests will attempt to elaborate whether private and public law can form a harmonious union or whether these branches of law are completely incompatible.

The fourth seminar, entitled "Heritage Restitution: Goals, Rules and Queries", will be organised by Dr. Hab. Michał Kurzej. The seminar will focus on various matters concerning law and procedure for restitution of looted cultural property. Apart from covering general spectrum of law-based actions, the participants will also delve into the most heated ongoing debates regarding processes of politically based returns of heritage (such as the Benin bronzes), the return of museified human remains or the effects of territorial state succession on the cultural property (in cases such as the Crimean gold). The event will take place in December 2023.

As part of the HECTOR project in March 2024 Professor Maciej Zdanek will organize the fifth seminar that is scheduled to take place. The preliminary theme is “the Education of Lawyers and the Transfer of Legal Knowledge in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times in the Context of Prosopographical, Biographical, and Textual Databases”.