Astronomer Copernicus reburied with fanfare and accolades: Visit his grave in Frombork, Poland

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th-century astronomer whose findings that the sun was the center of the solar system and not the earth were condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as heretical is finally appreciated. He's now been reburied as a hero by Polish priests on Saturday, May 22nd according to Associated Press reports. You can now visit his grave as well as his musuem in Frombork.

His remains had lain in an unmarked grave in Frombork, northern Poland. According to the report: His burial in a tomb in the cathedral where he once served as a church canon and doctor indicates how far the church has come in making peace with the scientist whose revolutionary theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun helped usher in the modern scientific age.

Copernicus, who lived from 1473 to 1543, was never himself an object of persecution. In fact, although he began his major work in 1517, "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres," he didn't complete it until 1530; it was not published until 1543, just before he died. It wasn't until years after his death that the notion that the earth was not the center of the universe (an idea many still find troubling, although more in a metaphysical sense) was discussed sufficiently to upset religious authorities. By then it was too late to do much about "rehabilitating" him.

Which isn't to say he didn't annoy his church superiors. Apparently despite his vow of celibacy, he had a mistress on side for several years.

As for Frombork (also called Frauenburg), it was first mentioned in the 13th century. The town and its 700-year-old cathedral were badly damaged in World War II, but the cathedral was carefully reconstructed and is again a popular tourist destination. The Museum of Copernicus in Frombork holds exhibitions related to the astronomer, as well as to astronomy in general, and includes a planetarium.

Although it took the church several hundred years to grant his status, there have been numerous sites throughout Poland that celebrated his life and achievements. In fact, a wooden casket holding those remains has lain in state in the nearby city of Olsztyn, and on Friday they were toured around the region to towns linked to his life.

On Saturday, his life has come full circle, and his remains were blessed with holy water by some of Poland's highest-ranking clerics. He now rests in the cathedral, in the same spot where part of his skull and other bones were found in 2005.

A black granite tombstone identifies him as the founder of the heliocentric theory, and a church canon. His gravestone even has a model of the solar system, a golden sun encircled by six of the planets.

The AP report also notes that Jacek Jezierski, the bishop who encouraged the search for Copernicus, considers Copernicus' burial as part of the church's broader embrace of science as compatible with Biblical belief. "Today's funeral has symbolic value in that it is a gesture of reconciliation between science and faith," Jezierski said. "Science and faith can be reconciled."

Getting to Frombork

It's about an hour's drive from Gdansk, famous today as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which, under political activist Lech Walsa, helped bring an end to Communist rule across Central Europe. Solidarity's leader, Lech Walsa became President of Poland in 1990

Note: There are other Copernicus related sites in Poland, including another Copernicus Museum in Torun, Poland.

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