When studying the group of heads of surgery at the Bonifratry Hospital, attention is drawn to their close connections with the Faculty of Medicine of the Jagiellonian University and the Medical Academy. The presented heads are graduates and usually research workers of these universities, they come from the Krakow surgical school of distinguished professors. In addition to the scientific, teaching and professional achievements, it is also worth emphasizing the great personal civic, social and political commitment of the above-mentioned heads in peace and war conditions. Some of them, after taking over departments and clinics of surgery in other cities, created their own schools of surgery, such as Professor Zygmunt Radliński in Warsaw or Professor Stanisław Karol Nowicki in Poznań. The content of my work clearly demonstrates the high level of surgery in our hospital and the important role played by its heads in Krakow and Polish surgical science and practice.