Academy of Learning was a primary Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 scientific institution during the annexation of Poland

Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...

 founded in 1871 in Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

 and formed as a continuation of the Kraków Scientific Society (Towarzystwo Naukowe Krakowskie). The institiution began activity two years later, in 1873. Initially, it focused on scholars from Kraków, but quickly expanded its activity to Polish scholars from all annexed territories and also Polish emigration. Its chief purposes were to organize, support and conduct learning and to represent Polish scientists and scholars to the world.

After Poland's independence was restored, AU changed its statute and in 1919 began activity as the Polish Academy of Learning

Polish Academy of Learning

The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning , headquartered in Kraków, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences....

(Polska Akademia Umiejętności; PAU).