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History of the Institute
The traditions of horticultural sciences in Skierniewice date back to the interwar period. However, the last 70 years – the time of formalization of the activities of Skierniewice institutes – were a period in which horticultural sciences developed particularly dynamically, giving rise to the name of the city as the Capital of Horticultural Sciences. Despite various changes and restructurings, or perhaps thanks to them, the currently existing in Skierniewice Instytut Ogrodnictwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (The National Institute of Horticultural Research), established on January 1, 2011 by the regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (Journal of Laws No. 172, item 1166, 2010) on the basis of the Institute of Pomology and Floriculture and the Institute of Vegetable Crops, is the largest, undisputed center of horticultural sciences in Poland, recognizable not only in the country, but also beyond its borders. The seat of the Institute's Headquarters is the Primate's Palace, built four hundred years ago in the center of Skierniewice and transferred to scientific institutions after Poland regained independence. In the early 50s, the Management of the Institute of Pomology operated in this building, and in the years 1964-2010 the Institute of Vegetable Crops, therefore it can be considered symbolic that the Primate's Palace is currently the seat of the Management of the Institute of Horticulture - National Research Institute, established as a result of their merger.
Instytutowi Ogrodnictwa – PIB (The National Institute of Horticultural Research) is still guided by the same goal that was the guiding thought of the activities of the Founders of the first institutes, Professors Szczepan A. Pieniążek and Emil Chroboczek, and that is to work for the dynamic development of Polish horticulture. However, over half a century the economic realities have changed, so the Institute had to change the forms of its activities. Our current activities no longer concern the basic problems related to the establishment of orchards, gardens and vegetable crops, but the efficiency of horticultural production, the quality and safety of obtained food, opening new markets for Polish products, new technologies for their storage and processing. In this respect, we cooperate both with the state administration and directly with representatives of the horticultural sector.
Prof. Dr. Szczepan Aleksander Pieniążek was born in 1913 into a peasant family in the town of Słup near Garwolin in Podlasie. After completing primary school, he continued his education at the Higher Gymnasium in Siedlce and then at the Seminary in Janów Podlaski. In 1933, he began studies at the University of Warsaw at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, specializing in botany, from which he graduated with a Master of Philosophy degree. In September 1938, he received a scholarship from the Polish Government to study at Cornell University (USA), where he obtained a doctorate in apple storage. In 1942, he began working at the Department of Horticulture at the University of Rhode Island. He returned to Poland in 1946, on the first ship sailing from the USA to Europe after the war. After his return, he took up the position of head of the Department of Pomology at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW).
In the years 1950–1951, the Ministry of Agriculture decided to decentralize agricultural science and create specialized institutes, including the Institute of Pomology. The task of creating this unit was entrusted to Professor Pieniążek. The Institute was established on January 24, 1951, and the Professor was appointed its director. The scientific staff of the Institute at that time consisted of 17 employees employed in Skierniewice and 45 engineers and masters employed in field experimental plants.
The Professor's noble goal was to make Polish fruit growing similar to modern American fruit growing, and he intended to achieve this goal by limiting the number of cultivated varieties, removing intercropping (cereals and root crops) from orchards, replacing high-stem trees with low-stem trees that bear fruit earlier and are easier to care for, limiting the phenomenon of alternating fruiting, and properly combating diseases and pests that limit orchard yields. On the Professor's initiative, field experimental stations were established in Górna Niwa near Puławy, Sinołęka near Siedlce, Nowa Wieś near Warka, Brzezna near Nowy Sącz, Dąbrowice near Skierniewice, and later also in Dworek near Koszalin, Miłobądz near Gdańsk, Świerklaniec near Tarnowskie Góry and Albigowa near Łańcut. The task of the plants was to quickly implement the results of research conducted at the Institute, and as a result they soon became a model for fruit growers in the areas where they operated, as well as a place for training and conferences.
Professor Pieniążek was aware of the fact that achieving a high level of Polish fruit-growing is only possible thanks to close ties with world science and fruit-growing practice. In 1947, he established contact with the Church of the Brethern in the USA, an organization helping Europe devastated by the war. Thanks to its support, a long-term process of scientific exchange began, including scientific internships at renowned American universities and research stations, as well as fruit-growing internships in the United States for young adepts of science and employees of the sector. As a result of the Professor's activities, over 1000 people went to the USA for internships - gardeners and farmers, graduates of universities and employees of both Skierniewice institutes.
Professor Szepan A. Pieniążek was often invited as a lecturer by horticultural research centres to many countries around the world. Thanks to this, he popularised Polish horticulture, established new contacts and got to know horticulture in other countries. The professor published dozens of scientific and popular books and brochures, including the books "Owoce krain dalach", "Dookoła sadowniczego świata", "Podróży sadowniczych nadal", which were the result of his travels and contained information on exotic fruits and methods of growing fruit trees, completely unknown in Poland. Some of these books were translated into foreign languages. His academic textbook "Orchardism", regularly updated and modernised, was published 11 times. A significant event for horticultural science in Poland was the International Horticultural Congress, organised by the Professor in Warsaw in 1974. The professor was an active activist and from 1970 to 1974 the chairman of the International Society of Horticultural Science.
In 1969, Professor Pieniążek was entrusted with organizing research in the field of ornamental plants, and a few years later the Institute of Pomology changed its name to the Institute of Pomology and Floriculture (1978).
Professor Szczepan A. Pieniążek was a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences from the beginning of his scientific career, in the years 1966-1971 secretary of the Department of Agricultural Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and in the years 1975-1980 vice-president of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was also a member of the French, German, Bulgarian and Russian Academies of Sciences. The Professor's presence in the Polish Academy of Sciences and the respect he always enjoyed in government bodies and organizations related to agriculture allowed him to solve difficult problems threatening the development of fruit growing in Poland, of which there were many in the reality of that time.
The professor was honored with the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Bonn, the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, the Agricultural University of Szczecin, the Agricultural University of Poznań and the Agricultural University of Kraków. For his work for Polish fruit growing, Professor Szczepan A. Pieniążek was honored with many national and foreign decorations, including the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Professor Szczepan A. Pieniążek headed the Institute of Pomology, and then Pomology and Floriculture for 37 years. He retired in 1984. He died in Konstancin-Jeziorna on July 1, 2008 at the age of 95.
Prof. Dr. Hab. Emil Chroboczek was born in 1902 in Dziećmorowice in Cieszyn Silesia (Zaolzie). After finishing primary school, he attended the Gymnasium in Orłowa, and later transferred to the Agricultural Secondary School in Czernichów near Kraków. In 1920, he began studies at the Bydgoszcz Agricultural Academy. In the years 1924-1928 he studied at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Poznań. In 1928, he obtained an engineering degree with a specialization in plant cultivation. In 1930, he left for the USA and took up work at the Department of Vegetable Crops at Cornell University, where in 1932 he obtained a doctorate in philosophy based on a dissertation on the influence of ecological conditions on beet seedlings.
After returning to Poland in 1932, he took up the position of assistant professor at the Department of Vegetable Cultivation and Breeding at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), and in December he was nominated to be deputy professor of vegetable growing and head of the Department of Vegetable Cultivation and Breeding at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW). He began his work by creating a modern research base in Skierniewice. During this period, the first modern greenhouse for growing vegetables under cover, an onion storage facility and a Cooper cold store were built in Poland, which was used until 1965.
Based on his habilitation thesis "Studies on the cultivation and storage of onions", the Council of the Horticultural Faculty of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) awarded him the title of associate professor in 1936. In 1938, he was appointed to the position of associate professor. Just before the war, the Academic Senate entrusted Professor E. Chroboczek with the care of the SGGW facilities in Skierniewice. In the years 1939-1945, the Professor and his colleagues watched over the library collections and research equipment gathered in these facilities, and also helped a large group of professors from Warsaw universities survive the occupation.
In 1945, Professor Emil Chroboczek was appointed, by the Decree of the Chairman of the State National Council, a full professor at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW). In the years 1947-1948 and 1949-1950, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Horticulture at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW). In 1953, the Professor initiated the publication of the Vegetable Bulletin.
Professor E. Chroboczek was considered the most outstanding specialist in the field of vegetable storage in the country. He also devoted a lot of time and attention to the issues of vegetable quality and processing, as well as other aspects of vegetable production technology. The professor also initiated research on little-known vegetable species and their introduction to cultivation. This concerned species such as pepper, eggplant, black salsify, broccoli, endive, crisp lettuce, kale, and sweet corn.
Already in 1954, during government meetings in Belweder, the Professor drew attention to the need to establish the Institute of Vegetable Crops. The Minister of Agriculture decided to establish such an institute in 1964. Professor Emil Chroboczek became the director of the Institute, at the same time acting as the head of the Department of Vegetable Crops at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.
The professor was the supervisor of numerous doctoral and master's theses. For his activity for vegetable science he received many distinctions and awards, including the Knight's, Officer's and Commander's Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta. In 1960 he was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by Humboldt University in Berlin, in 1970 by the University of Horticulture in Budapest, and in 1974 by the Faculty of Horticulture of the Agricultural University in Lublin. He travelled abroad many times in order to establish cooperation with leading research institutions in vegetable cultivation.
Professor Chroboczek's work to restore the former glory of the Primate's Palace and the Palace Settlement park and palace complex is particularly noteworthy. For his involvement in the reconstruction of the Palace, the Professor received the Golden Badge of Protection of Monuments from the Minister of Culture and Art (1972).
Professor Emil Chroboczek retired in 1972 and died in Warsaw in 1978 at the age of 76.
source: Jubilee materials of the Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice 2016
