On 29 June, the Jagiellonian University was visited by Crown Prince Akishino, brother of the Emperor of Japan Naruhito, and his spouse Crown Princess Kiko. The royal couple took a tour of JU Museum Collegium Maius and signed the visitor’s book. Visiting the Kraków university was part of the official visit of the Japanese heir presumptive in Poland organised in celebration of one hundred years of Polish-Japanese diplomatic relations.
The visit began with a tour of the Jagiellonian Assembly Hall and Collegium Maius treasury. Next, the guests made their way to Stuba Communis, where JU Rector Prof. Wojciech Nowak and Director of the JU Museum Prof. Krzysztof Stopka briefly summarised the most important events in the University’s centuries-long history. Prince Akishino was also presented with a replica of an early 16th century Jagiellonian Globe, the oldest known globe in the world which depicts the Americas. Later, the royal couple had the opportunity to view other exhibits in the Museum’s collection.
Prince Akishino was born on 30 November 1965 in Tokyo. He received his education at the Gakushūin school complex. He graduated in law an biological sciences in 1984. He also studied taxonomy of fish at St. John’s College in Oxford. In 1996, he received a PhD in ornithology from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Hayama. After the abdication of his father, Akihito, and the crowning of his brother Naruhito as the Emperor of Japan on 1 May 2019, he became the heir presumptive to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Prince Akishino is the president of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology and the Japanese Association of Zoological Gardens and Aquariums. He is also a visiting professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.
