IntroductionAlthough more than one hundred years have passed since the death of Jan Mikulicz-Radecki, student of Theodor Billroth (1829 – 1894), and founder of the Wroclaw school of surgery, his name recurs with a certain frequency in the first decade of the 21st century. It has appeared in articles concerning the historical context of modern European surgery [1-5] and in research relating to the modern treatment of chronic diseases, which today are treated within the confines of internal medicine, ophthalmology and dermatology [6- 12]. Furthermore, the great importance of the results obtained by Mikulicz for the development of modern surgical techniques of the gastrointestinal tract [13, 14] and thyroid [15] is underlined. His contribution to the development of gastrointestinal endoscopic examination earned him the well-deserved title of “father of surgical endoscopy” [16]. His contemporaries called Mikulicz “a king in the kingdom of surgeons.” He achieved excellent results in the surgical treatment of patients using innovative aseptic techniques for the time [17, 18]. Students of the history of medicine are often unaware of Mikilicz's interdisciplinary attitude towards the diagnosis and treatment of patients. The impact on the formation of this attitude had both; his professional training, which took place in Vienna under the guidance of Billroth [19, 20], and his broad interests that go far beyond the field of surgery, and even beyond medicine. A fact to underline is the foundation by Mikulicz and Bernhard Naunyn (1839-1925) [21, 23] of an interdisciplinary journal “Mitteilungenaus den Grenzgebieten der Medizinund Chirurgie”, which integrated surgery and internal medicine. Due to Mikulicz's broad research interests, his name is often mentioned in daily clinical practice not only among contemporary surgeons but also among dermatologists. Mikulicz explained the pathogenesis of rhinoscleroma and described the characteristic cells of this disease, which later received his name [24, 25]. He also described a disease of the salivary and lacrimal glands of non-inflammatory character, which to this day exists in international medical nomenclature as Mikulicz's disease [6, 11] not to be confused with Sjögren's syndrome [26]. He also developed an innovative method for treating difficult-to-heal skin wounds and ulcers using preparations containing iodine and maścią lapisową with Peruvian balsam [25]. This ointment (also called Mikulicz ointment) is still used today in surgical practice and dermatology. Family and education Jan Mikulicz-Radecki was born on 16 May 1850 in Czerniowce in Bukowina.