GEORG FORSTER IN VILNIUS (Georg Forster w Wilnie)

The author deals with the journey of Georg Forster from Kassel through Vienna to Vilnius in 1784 and Forster's impression from his stay in Poland, as well as with his activity as professor of natural history in Vilnius in 1784-1787. What is important is the question what intellectual milieu Forster might have found in Vilnius. His most important intellectual partner was probably Marcin Poczobut, a very well known astronomer and the rector of the university being built at that time. The author objects to the view that Forster was in isolation on his own fault, and that this isolation was the reason why he knew almost nothing about Poland and saw the country as depressing.