Education in the history of architecture and history of urban planning at the Faculty of Architecture at the Poznan University of Technology is not only a source of historical in-formation, but also consists of conveying ways of thinking and design decisions that arose in given socio-spatial and cultural situations. Classes in the history of architecture are indi-rectly a science of design and creativity based on existing models, which, however, can be implemented or transformed to meet contemporary needs. The author decided to investigate whether this subject is sufficiently valued by students, how it is perceived by them and to what extent the knowledge gained in the classes is used in design and therefore conducteda survey among architecture students. The study also attempts to show examples of the transformation of thinking taken from previous centuries to contemporary design.