The Conference gave us an opportunity to commemorate the dual anniversary celebrated in 2019 by the Department of Indology: the 40th of the death of Associate Professor Ludwik Skurzak as well as 50 years since the foundation of the Department.

Professor Ludwik Skurzak (1900 – 1979), an outstanding Polish Indologist and researcher into Sanskrit, ancient Indian history, culture, literature and philosophy, was central to the establishment of post-War Indological Studies in Wrocław. His work in the field of Indology at the University of Wrocław began in 1945.

In 1957 the Chair of Indology was established at the University and run by Dr. Skurzak. The Chair was in 1969 transferred to the Department of Indology and incorporated into the Institute of Classical Philology and Ancient Culture (which in 2011 changed its name to the Institute of Classical, Mediterranean and Oriental Studies). As Associate Professor Ludwik Skurzak, the first head of the Department, worked extensively in the field of Indology until his retirement in 1971.