2008 brought a conclusion to a 200-year-long search for the final resting place of Nicolaus Copernicus. The Kronenberg Foundation played an important role in the search by financing in 2006 the research conducted by the team of Prof. Jerzy Gąssowski from Pułtusk Academy of Humanities. The last, successful attempt at discovering Copernicus' burial place in Frombork cathedra began in 2004, initiated by bishop Jacek Jezierski, who invited Prof. Gąssowski to take charge of the project. The bishop was inspired by the findings of Jacek Sikorski, a historian from Olsztyn who provided him with probable coordinates of the last resting place of the great Polish astronomer in Frombork cathedral. Archaeologists inspected thirteen graves in two consecutive years (2004, 2005), focusing their attention on the last one. Although the most damaged of all, with scattered bones remaining from what used to be a skeleton, it sheltered a skull of a man who died at the age of 60-70. The skull was transferred to the Central Forensic Laboratory at Warsaw police headquarters to obtain a virtual reconstruction of the dead man's face. The reconstruction, delivered by junior inspector Dariusz Zajdel, was compared with existing portraits of Nicolaus Copernicus to reveal a resemblance recognized by experts.

Further work was made possible when the Foundation granted financial support to the project, that was consequently reopened in 2006. The first step was to map the DNA from the scull or bones from the burial site identified in Frombork in 2005. This part of the research was conducted by the Museum and Institute of Zoology of Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and by the Forensic Genetics Laboratory of the Forensic Research Institute in Kraków.

In 2006 Prof. Göran Henriksson from Uppsala University in Sweden expressed his interest in the project. For several centuries Uppsala University has been the home of Copernicus' library, captured as a part of war spoils in the 17th century. The search for genetic material that could be attributed to the great astronomer was launched under the supervision of Prof. Marie Allen from Uppsala University. Scientists inspected objects that had been used by the astronomer and that might preserve some genetic material. Hairs found between the pages of Copernicus' books were carefully examined. Analyses performed at Uppsala University revealed that the DNA from the hair matched that of the skull. This means that the remains uncovered in Frombork can indeed be attributed to Nicolaus Copernicus.

For more information about the search for the Nicolaus Copernicus project visit (Polish version only).