Cartography, topography and land surveying at the old University of Vilnius

The paper dwells on the beginnings and further developments in teaching the said three applicable sciences at Vilnius University as related with the evolution of Lithuania’s statehood. Economic factors related with cadastral purposes, use of natural resources, construction of trade roads and other needs made it necessary to have the country’s maps available. Students learnt the theoretical fundamentals of cartography already when taught natural philosophy, in the first days of the University. References to “practical training in geometry” are found beginning with the second half of the 17th century. In 1770 training of land surveyors was organised at Vilnius University. Professor M. Kado (1765-1823) started delivering a course of lectures on practical topography in 1799 and Prof. M. Polinskis-Pelka (1785- 1848) started lecturing on higher geodesy in 1820. The Chair of Land Surveying at Vilnius University was set up in 1826 and A. Szahin (1799-1845), the author of the first textbooks on higher geodesy (Higher Geodesy and Land Surveying and Levelling, 1929, in Polish) was elected its head. The 1832 list of the instruments available in the land-surveying study comprised 15 items