During probing archaeological work on the site of the Canonical gardens in Frombork, a 16th-century compass from the time of Nicolaus Copernicus was found.
The find is probably one of three such instruments discovered in Poland that were used for astronomical, surveying and cartographic measurements.
The compass was discovered on August 4 this year during a search organized by the Warmian Exploration Group and SKARB Mission. During the search, a corner of the now-defunct canonry and the entrance to its partially collapsed cellars were also unearthed.
The 16th-century compass was donated to the Nicolaus Copernicus Museum in Frombork.
The museum already has in its collection a very similar sixteenth-century compass, found in 2016, also in the canon’s gardens. You can see it here: https://zbiory.muzeumkopernika.pl/obiekty/5824 It was the oldest such instrument among the exhibits of the astronomy history department. It has hinged arms joined together, ending with blades; on the side of one of them you can see a signature with a drawing of a star in a circle.
According to Frombork museum officials, the recently discovered compass is probably the third 16th-century instrument of this type preserved in Poland – the first was discovered in 2005 in the northern courtyard of the Collegium Novum of Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
