Over a long period, from the visits of Justus Decius of Alsace, founder of his Villa and a secretary to King Sigismund the Old, to Erasmus of Rotterdam and his conversations about the Polish currency with Copernicus until the time Princess Marcelina Czartoryska, a pupil of Chopin, passed his ideas on to the Villa’s guests, Villa Decius welcomed outstanding representatives of their time and arranged meetings in its beautiful surroundings for many people to help them meet, understand and cooperate with one another.
All legal persons and individuals, whose efforts had helped to bring this extremely damaged and abandoned Villa back to life and resume the activity promoting the development of culture after six years of restoration works carried out and financed mainly by the City of Cracow, decided to follow this tradition in new circumstances. To this end, the Villa Decius Association was established in 1995.
Below please find the most important events which preceded the Association’s establishment. At the CSCE Symposium on cultural heritage held on 30 May 1991 in Cracow, Karl Dedecius came up with the idea to establish at Villa Decius a forum for scientists, artists and translators. This idea was developed and transformed into concrete arrangements under the patronage of the City of Cracow and the International Centre of Culture. Resolutions concerning the Villa owned by the City of Cracow were adopted. They stressed its cultural and scientific role and included the Resolution by the City Council of 12 June 1992, the Resolution by the Board of the City of 14 June 1993, the Resolution by the International Committee of the European Academy of 27 June 1993 and the Agreement between the Minister of Art and Culture and the President of the City of Cracow of 30 of June 1992.
The Association intends to cooperate with institutions, both home and abroad, which aspire to the development of values of regional cultures and European integration. The activity of the Villa Decius Association is based on the concept of international academy where people of science and culture meet and cooperate.