Department of Historical Atlas - Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN

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Rynek Starego Miasta 31, 00-272 Warszawa

email: ihpan@ihpan.edu.pl

phone: +48 22 831 02 61

Head: Dr Tomasz Panecki

Deputy Head: Associate professor Bogumił Szady

Cooperators:
Associate professor Krzysztof Chłapowski
Piotr Kann, MA
Associate professor Marzena Liedke
Dawid Maciuszek, MA
Dr Anna Paulina Orłowska
Dr Kazimierz Pacuski
Henryk Rutkowski, MA
Dr Apolinary Rzońca
Dr hab. Marek Słoń
Marcin Sobiech, MA
Dr Karol Witkowski
Dr Tomasz Związek

Contact:
atlas@ihpan.edu.pl

The Department of Historical Atlas specialises in historical research related to digital and spatial perspectives in a broad sense. The Department’s staff deal with these issues both from the substantive (documentary and monographic research) and the technological side (research infrastructure and development of tools). For almost 70 years, the main task of the Department was to develop the series ‘Historical Atlas of Poland. Detailed Maps of the 16th Century’ (AHP), but in recent years other areas of research have also been included in the research agenda. These include the editing of historical sources with spatial reference, cartographic documentation work beyond the AHP series, the development of domain ontologies, the harmonisation and integration of historical geospatial data, the development of research methods supported by IT tools, and monographic research on the past from a spatial aspect. As a result of this expansion and the completion of the AHP project in 2021 and the Dariah.Lab project in 2023, it was decided to establish two labs in the Department: a Digital History Lab and a Spatial History Lab.

The Digital History Lab was established as a result of the transformation of the Department’s Historical Research Data Modelling and Analysis Team, which operated from 2021 to 2023 and was created to implement the DARIAH-PL project. The main objective of the laboratory is to conduct research on the possibility of implementing modern digital technologies in historical research and the consequences of their use for the historian’s workshop and the development of historiography. The task of the lab is also to maintain and develop the digital infrastructure of DARIAH.lab and to support the staff of other departments and labs of IH PAN in the implementation of digital projects.

The Spatial History Lab is the continuation of the geographic-historical works of the Department. The research tasks of its staff, apart from documentary work (editing, preparation of maps and atlases), concern many aspects of the past, whose main bond is the spatial aspect of research. The overarching aim of the Department is to expand the AHP in terms of chronology (e.g. 18th, 19th, 20th centuries), territory (e.g. Ruthenian lands of the Crown, areas of contemporary Poland that are not part of the former Republic), and idea (e.g. through specific research devoted to selected social, cultural, economic and political issues)^[1].

The results of the work of the entire Department are geographic and digital resources available to the public. The most important of these are:

Atlas Fontium (https://atlasfontium.pl/) – an internet portal dedicated to the publication of historical sources and materials with spatial reference concerning former Polish lands.
Data Atlas Fontium (https://data.atlasfontium.pl/) – a repository of historical spatial data allowing to collect and share it together with metadata and simple visualisations in the form of digital maps.
Historical Atlas of Poland. Polish Crown Lands in the Second Half of the 16th Century – A historical atlas (map, commentary, geographical index) showing the Polish lands of the Crown in the second half of the 16th century. Available in print, digital (*.pdf) and as GIS spatial data.
Maps with the Past (https://atlas.ihpan.edu.pl/pastmaps/) – a geoportal allowing users to view georeferenced and mosaicked sheets of the most important old maps of the Polish lands.
WikiHum (https://wikihum.lab.dariah.pl/) – a reference knowledge base enabling the acquisition, sharing and harmonisation of historical data on persons and places of Polish history.
INDXR (https://indxr.ihpan.edu.pl/) – a system for creating repositories of scans and their semantic annotation.

Associated with the Department is the journal “Studia Geohistorica” (https://apcz.umk.pl/AZMDDP) published by IH PAN and the Polish Historical Association. Its editor-in-chief is Marek Słoń (IH KUL), and his deputy is Bogumił Szady.

Current projects:

‘Cartography at service of the state reforms in the times of Stanisław August Poniatowski – a critical study of the Geographical-Statistical Description of the Parishes of the Kingdom of Poland and the maps of the Crown palatinates by Karol Perthées’; principal investigator: Bogumił Szady, funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (the National Development Programme for Humanities), No. 11H 18 0122 87, period: 2020–2025. The main objective of the project is the critical study and online publication of Karol Perthées’s ‘Geographical-Statistical Description of the Parishes of the Kingdom of Poland’ and special maps of the Crown Provinces. These are basic and extremely valuable sources for the study of the cultural and historical-political landscape of Polish lands in the second half of the 18th century. This study will have two advantages. Firstly, in terms of documentary and cartographic research, it will provide a picture of the settlement network and administrative divisions of the Crown (within the boundaries from before the Second Partition). Secondly, in terms of problem research, the material gathered will be the main source basis for a monographic study on ‘Cartography at service of the state reforms in the times of Stanisław August Poniatowski’. The following persons from ZAH participate in the project: Bogumił Szady (head), Arkadiusz Borek, Michał Gochna, Tomasz Królik, Grzegorz Myrda, Tomasz Panecki, and Jarosław Suproniuk. Project website: https://perthees.ihpan.edu.pl/.
‘Historical Atlas of Poland. Red Ruthenia in the second half of the 16th century – preparation of detailed maps in digital form and editing of sources’, managed by Andrzej Janeczek, funded by the NPRH, No. 11H 20 0390 88, years 2022–2027. The project is a natural, even expected development of the atlas initiatives carried out so far. The publishing series ‘Historical Atlas of Poland. Detailed maps of the 16th century’ (AHP) was completed in 2021, fulfilling the entire territorial scope set out for it in the 1960s. Other lands of the Crown, including Red Ruthenia incorporated into the Polish state in the mid-14th century, were not included in this programme. Extending the AHP to include Red Ruthenia, the oldest annex of the Crown, a separate district with its own fate, would enrich the picture of Poland at that time as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural state, made up of various components, not only those belonging to the old Piast heritage. The integration processes to which the Red Ruthenia was subjected from the mid-14th century are usually seen in cultural or political terms. This time, the results of settlement changes, colonisation, urbanisation, migration, the development of land ownership, as well as the construction of ecclesiastical structures, will be visible. In addition to the immediate goal of reconstructing a comprehensive picture of the large Crown district of these times, the project will provide effective tools for various disciplines, belonging not only to the historical sciences, and will give impetus to the study of the eastern half of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, slowly recovering from its post-war decline. The following persons from ZAH participate in the project: Grzegorz Myrda, Tomasz Panecki, Jarosław Suproniuk, and Bogumił Szady.
‘Map for the Nation. Digital edition of Wojciech Chrzanowski’s Karta Dawnej Polski’, managed by Tomasz Panecki, funded by the Ministry of Science and Education, No. NdS/543210/2021/2022, years 2022–2025. The aim of the project is primarily to develop a digital edition of the “Karta Dawnej Polski” (Charter of Old Poland) in the form of a WebGIS application consisting of georeferenced and mosaicked map sheets as well as indexed localities, industrial facilities and hydronyms. The project also aims to provide a source commentary on the map: the background on the circumstances of its creation, the scope of its content, the reliability of its transmission, reception, etc. As part of the project, workshops will also be held with different audiences related to the themes of the project and, more broadly, the work at the Department. The following persons from ZAH participate in the project: Tomasz Panecki, Anna Barcz, Wiesława Duży, Michał Gochna, and Aniela Wrzesińska.
‘Imperial Commoners in Brazil and West Africa (1640–1822): A Global History from a Correspondence Network Perspective’ managed by Agata Błoch, funded by NCN, No. 2022/45/B/HS3/00473, 2023–2027. The project combines digital humanities and history, focusing on the modern Portuguese empire as a dynamic communicative space. It examines the communication patterns of the empire’s inhabitants, their influence on politics and their responses to global change. The project draws on a unique collection of official correspondence between Lisbon and its Atlantic colonies, numbering almost 170,000, to look at the empire as a dynamic space based on networks and created through grassroots communication. Project website: www.projectmape.org
‘Critical Contexts of Old Maps Interpretation. Towards Systematisation of Methodology’, managed by Katarzyna Słomska-Przech, funded by the National Science Centre, No. 2024/08/X/HS3/00320, period: 2024–2025. The project aims to propose a hermeneutic approach to analysing the interpretation of old maps to show how, why, and where methodologies of geography, history, and critical cartography are intersected. The main research interest is to investigate how the process of map interpretation is described in academic texts.
‘Monstrous Rivers: Investigating the Environmental History of Modern European Floods through Literary Sources’ managed by Anna Barcz, funded by the National Science Center in Poland, No. 2023/49/B/HS3/04329, period: 2024–2028. aims to explore the shifting role of hydroengineering in modern European history, specifically its correlation with river flood events between the 18th and 20th centuries. To investigate what cultural contexts had and have impact on modern ways of managing rivers and environmental history of Europe, we focus on literary sources of three major streams, namely the Rhine, Danube and Thames. Our studies are accompanied by critical and historical analysis of maps to show what kind of warning signs the flooding rivers of modern Europe transmit to us. The project’s team include: a historian of cartography, Katarzyna Słomska-Przech (IH PAN), and a historian of hydrology and hydroengineering, Karol Witkowski (IGiPZ PAN), the literary scholar and specialist in the history of archipelagos, Halszka Leleń (University of Warmia and Mazury, UWM) and Apolinary Rzońca, a researcher in the environmental history of fish and a digital-humanities specialist.
‘Towns’ villages. Landholdings of towns and burghers in late medieval and early modern Greater Poland in a Central European context‘, managed by Michał Słomski, funded by National Science Center in Poland, No. 2024/08/X/HS3/00993, period: 2024–2025. An extensive bibliographic database resulting from problems arising from urban villages in pre-partition Poland and in the countries of Central Europe in the Middle Ages and in the modern era will be the result of the library query. The preliminary identification of sources based on archival research will allow the exclusion of possibilities and extensions resulting from research on urban villages in former Poland in the Greater Poland region.
Digital Research Infrastructure for Arts and Humanities DARIAH-PL; Project Manager at the Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences (IH PAN): Adam Zapała; Funding: National Recovery Plan No. KPOD.01.18-IW.03-0013/23; Implementation period: 2024–2025; The project’s goal is to develop a national intelligent digital research infrastructure for the humanities and arts by creating a national ecosystem for conducting interdisciplinary research on archaeological materials and cultural heritage. The project is carried out by a consortium of 13 research institutions. Its main tasks include integrating Dariah.lab laboratories with the Dariah.hub platform, as well as preparing tutorials and educational materials for the newly developed infrastructure.

Completed projects:

‘Jesuits of the East? Artistic network of the Basilian order in Eighteenth-Century Poland-Lithuania’, managed by Melchior Jakubowski, funded by the National Science Centre, No. 2021/40/C/HS3/00045, period: 2021–2024.
‘Digital research infrastructure for the humanities and arts sciences DARIAH-PL”, project manager at IH PAN’ – Adam Zapała. Project funded by the Operational Programme Intelligent Development 2014–2020. Project website: https://ihpan.edu.pl/dariah-lab/
‘Historical Ontology of Urban Space (HOUSe)’, principal investigator: Wiesława Duży, funded by NAWA, No. PPI/APM/2019/1/00053/U/00001, period: 2019–2022. Project website: https://urbanonto.ihpan.edu.pl. Ontology and specifications: https://github.com/urbanonto
‘Historical Atlas of Poland 2.0’, principal investigator: Tomasz Panecki, MNiSW, No. SONP/SP/466930/2020, 2020–2022.
‘Polish diplomats at the Holy See in the second half of the 15th century – library and archive queries’, principal investigator: Adam Zapała, funded by NCN (Miniatura 5), No. 2021/05/X/HS3/01142.
‘The Uniate Church in Podlasie and the Brzeskolitewski district in the first years after the partition (1795–1807) – parish structures and clergy’, principal investigator: Andrzej Buczyło, funded by NCN (Miniatura 4), No. 2021/05/X/HS3/00845, 2022.
‘Historical Atlas of Poland in the 16th century – supplements to the series’, principal investigator: Marek Słoń, funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (the National Development Programme for Humanities), No. 1aH 15 0373 83, period 2016–2021. Project results [in Polish].
‘Historical Atlas of Poland in 16th century’, principal investigator: Marek Słoń, funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (the National Development Programme for Humanities), No. 31H 11 0088 80, period: 2012–2014, value: 200.000 PLN.
‘Historical Atlas of Polish Towns: Kalisz’, principal investigator: Urszula Sowina, funded by the National Science Centre, No. 2015/19/B/HS3/00549, period: 2016–2019, value: 177.800 PLN.
‘Settlement network of Warmia (Ermland) – preliminary research’, principal investigator: Wiesława Duży, funded by the National Science Centre, No. 2018/02/X/HS3/03344, period: 2019–2020, value: 11.064 PLN.
‘Old maps’ digital editions: perspectives and constraints on the example of Geographic-Military and Statistical Map of Greater Poland (1807–1812)’, principal investigator: Tomasz Panecki, funded by the National Science Centre, No. 2015/17/N/HS3/01267, period: 2016–2019, value: 112.320 PLN. Project results.
‘Ontological Foundations for Building Historical Geoinformation Systems’, principal investigator: Bogumił Szady, funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (the National Development Programme for Humanities), No. 2bH 15 0216 83, period: 2016–2019, value: 1.070.160 PLN. Project results.
‘Annual Fairs in Greater Poland from the Late Middle Ages to the Deluge (1385–1655)’, principal investigator: Anna Paulina Orłowska, funded by the National Science Centre, No. 2014/13/N/HS3/04425, period: 2017–2019, value: 768.736 PLN.
‘Kalisz consistory court records, 1504–1534’, principal investigator: Arkadiusz Borek, funded by the National Science Centre, No. 2014/13/N/HS3/04425, period: 2015–2018, value: 102.700 PLN. Project results [in Polish].
‘Digital edition of court of justice books from the District of Kalisz from 1587–1593’, principal investigator: Michał Gochna, funded by the National Science Centre, No. 2014/13/N/HS3/04421, period: 2015–2018, value: 149.890 PLN. Project results [in Polish].
‘Digital Edition of the Kalisz District Court Registers form the turn of the 15th and 16th century’, principal investigator: Tomasz Związek, funded by the National Science Centre, No. 2014/13/N/HS3/04428, period: 2015–2018, value: 149.500 PLN. Project results [in Polish].

^[1] Tomasz Panecki, “Atlas” bez Atlasu, in: Marek Słoń, Bogumił Szady (eds.), Atlas historyczny Polski. Ludzie, koncepcje, realizacje, Instytut Historii PAN, Warszawa, 2023, p. 137–161.