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and gingerbread...
The most beautiful monuments of Toruń presented by Benon Frąckowski, the leader of tourist guides from Toruń
Dates from the first half of XVII century, built in place of a gothic granary, its front faces the street. It represents the baroque style, its numerous windows are decorated with bands which are to resemble tied grain bags. It is ranked as one of the largest and most interesting buildings of this kind in Poland.
Gothic granary from the second half of XIV century, with a well preserved scalariform gable and divided slender arched blind windows. Represents the high level of warehousing architecture from the period when trade flourished in Toruń. Red Granary used to be a palace of a wealthy merchant family from Toruń - the Eskens. Dates from late XIV century, and was rebuilt in the second half of XVI century. Then a splendid sandstone portal and a number of other decorative elements on the side facade of the granary were made, probably by a sculptor from Gdańsk, Wilhelm van den Block. In XIX century, the palace and neighbouring buildings were joined into one large granary. The building owes its name to distinct red colour of the walls, applied in XIX century. Nowadays it hosts a division of the District Museum in Toruń. In the Mostowa street no. 1 a large, two-wing baroque granary from 1719 is located. It was built next to a town gate which means its main purpose was to store goods transported via the Vistula River to Toruń. In 1823 it was enlarged to fit the needs of the Toruń Stronghold and joined to a tower, becoming the biggest granary in Toruń and one of the biggest in Poland (possibly the biggest). In the Podmurna 1/3 one of the oldest granaries in Toruń can be found. It was build in the turn of XIII/XIV centuries and decorated with a double toothed crest running around the upper part of the building. In XIX and XX centuries it was an apartment house, and after the World War II, the granary was turned into an electrical workshop. Now it is utilized for cultural purposes.
In Rabiańska street no. 1 and no. 3, two small baroque granaries are preserved. According to historical sources and a long lasting tradition, a post station, so-called “Posthalt”, whose origins go into early XVIII century, was localised in the granaries. The sources say that the Town Council employed a full time messenger delivering correspondence. Toruń Post Station was incorporated into a network of royal post in XVII century. The most prominent person connected with Toruń Post was Jakub Kazimierz Rubinkowski – a burgrave and post office master, who held his offices in XVIII century. At present, a Philatelist House is located in Rabiańska street no. 1, and a statue of Rubinkowski’s head stands in front of it, in a small square. Whereas two adjoining granaries in Rabiańska street no. 3 represent baroque style and belong to smaller granaries of this type build in Toruń, they differ only in their finials - one is triangular and the other is semicircular.
They represent the great granary-houses of Toruń. The breadth of the houses exceeds 10 m, and their height reaches 20 m. House no. 6 was built in renaissance style with decorative fixtures in the upper part. Nowadays it is a seat of a private company. While the house no. 8 is a grand gothic apartment house with richly fragmented top. In medieval times it was a granary, which, after general reconstruction in XIX century, was turned into an apartment house. Recently, the valuable monument was reconstructed in its original gothic shape. To build a house of this type, approximately 75 thousand bricks were needed. At present, the house is being utilized by the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre of Polish Academy of Science.
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