Students Leaving Krakow in 1549

[3] Students leaving Krakow, as a late work by Jan Matejko, did not attract much interest from researchers, being primarily associated with the backstage of the presented event.

[2] The Spirit monastery with a Gothic part of the walls, located in the center of the composition, was the subject of a dispute between the city authorities and the architectural and conservation circles at the end of the 19th century, in which Matejko was also involved.

For this reason, the Krakow authorities were forced to implement construction projects in the Old Town area, at the expense of liquidating historic parts.

After the destruction of the remains of the building of St. Ducha, President Feliks Szlachtowski presented one of the letters sent by Matejko at an open meeting: "Given the dismissal I received from the excellent Krakow City Council, the title of honorary citizenship, given to me ten years ago, is not in line with what has happened in recent days and has been going on for a long time, it compels me to return the diploma that I am currently submitting".

Later, it changed ownership many times, in 1938, during the exhibition of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, it was owned by the American Bank in Poland,[4] and on the eve of World War II, it was transferred to the National Museum in Krakow (the object's scientific card states that it was purchased on 9 May 1939 for PLN 12,500 from Henryk Wąsikiewicz).

[2] Due to poor storage during the German occupation, it was irreversibly damaged and, despite conservation works, the original color intensity could not be restored.