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and gingerbread...
The most beautiful monuments of Toruń presented by Benon Frąckowski, the leader of tourist guides from Toruń
Belongs to the most spectacular achievements of medieval urban architecture in Europe. As early as in XIII century, in the Old Town Market of dimensions 109x104 m, the following detached commercial and administrative buildings were erected: cloth halls, bread bakeries, a city scales, a court and a marketplace tower of 23 m in height. In late XIV century, the town received a privilege to build a Town Hall from the Grand Master of the Order of Teutonic Knights. In place of the abovementioned buildings, a new single-storey rectangular Town Hall of dimensions 43,7x52,4 m was erected. It boasted an internal courtyard and a tower (already existing), which was elevated to its contemporary height (40 m) and merged into the Town Hall architectonic structure by a builder named Andrzej. In the beginning of the XVII century municipal authorities decide that the Town Hall should be enlarged. An architect from Gdańsk, Antoni van Obberghen adds another storey to the Town Hall, enlarges window orifices and places renaissance towers in corners of the building. At that time the main tower received a pavilion roof and four corner turrets. The interior of the Town Hall was completely rebuilt and decorated with multiple splendid portals. In 1703, during a siege by Swedish army, the Town Hall was seriously devastated, mainly due to an outbreak of fire. Reconstruction lasted several years and the present shape of the Town Hall is mainly the effect of work carried out in the first half of the XVIII century. After the Second World War a District Museum that functions to the present day was opened in the Town Hall.
The monument of Nicolaus Copernicus stands in the Old Marketplace, in front of the Town Hall. It was created in 1853 on commission from a German Copernicus Society by a sculptor from Berlin, Fryderyk Abraham Tieck. The monument is cast in bronze and represents Copernicus clad in professor’s robe holding an armillary sphere in his left hand. There is an inscription in Latin engraved on the granite plinth: "Nicolaus Copernicus, a citizen of Toruń, moved the earth and halted the Sun and the sky".
One of the most beautiful appartment houses in Toruń. It was erected in the Middle Ages. In late XVII century it was rebuilt in baroque style. The facade of the house is richly decorated with stucco arabesque motifs. An eight-pointed star, after which the house is named, was placed on its top. A splendid oak spiral staircase with a statue of a Roman Goddess and a lion holding a shield with the rebuilding date of 1697 can be found in the building. In the years1967-69 renovation work was carried out and original interior layout was restored. Nowadays a museum has been arranged in the house. It is the first Polish Museum of Far East Art.
Toruń cathedral of saint John the Baptiser and saint John the Evangelist is the oldest gothic church in the Land of Chełmno, the beginnings of which are connected with the moment of granting Toruń the City Rights in 1233. The building of the church started shortly after translocation of the city to its present location (1233-1236). At first the choir was built and the main aisle followed. In late XIII century, a three-aisle church, which was lower and narrower than the present church, was built. In XIV and XV century the church was enlarged. Its dimensions reached over 56 m in length, and the height of the interior exceeded 27 m. In 1406 an unknown tower collapsed and a second tower was built to the height of 52 m. A massive 7 tonne bell was hung in the tower. The bell was cast in Toruń in 1500 and was named “Tuba Dei" ie. "God’s Trumpet", it is one of the biggest bells in Poland – its diameter is 2.17 m. In the lutheran period, the protestants used the church and whitewashed the walls of the church to cover the paintings. The interior is decorated mainly in baroque style. A gothic XIII century font in which Nicolaus Copernicus was baptised can still be found in the church.
Saint Jacob church is one of the biggest and most beautiful gothic churches in Poland. It was built in XIV century and was a municipal church for the New Town of Toruń. Its building started in 1309 as certifies a gothic inscription on yellow and green glazed bricks placed around the choir. The church was finished in 1350. Its basilica construction (side aisles are lower than the main aisle) is unique among Toruń’s gothic churches. Its construction utilizes supporting arches that transfer the pressure of the roof and ceiling to the supports of side aisles. This church is decorated with numerous pinnacles, blind windows and glazed bricks. The tower is 49 m high, and its double saddle roof comes from the second half of the XV century. The interior was whitewashed in the lutheran period (1557-1667), and partially restored in the 1930s. Equipment mainly comes from the XVIII century – two gothic figures of saint Mary and several medieval crosses from the former dominican church were also preserved.
Location: Kopernika street 15/17 (formerly saint Ann street). The two houses number 15 and 17 still hide the secret of the birth of the great citizen of Toruń, Nicolaus Copernicus. Probably, Copernicus was born in the large house no. 15, built in the turn of XIV/XV centuries. It is a typical example of Toruń’s "granary-houses", which used to be places of living and storage for citizens of Old Town of Toruń. Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Toruń on 19 February 1473. Nowadays, in both houses a division of the District Museum is situated under the name of "Museum of Copernicus House".
A post-franciscan church, its roots reach the first half of XIII century; in the past it was a wooden building. In the second half of the XIV century the church was thoroughly rebuilt. It was the time when a brick, three-aisle, hall-shaped church of 60 m in length and of the aisle height of circa 27 m was built. The elongated choir is of the same height as the main aisle. In accordance with the code of beggar orders, such as the franciscan order, this church does not have a massive tower, but three small turrets built above the choir from the eastern side. The interior is richly decorated witch religious polychromies from XIV century. The wooden stallses and empora come from the franciscan period and the organs, pulpit and most of the epitaphs hung on the church walls come from the lutheran period (1577-1774). On the left, in the wall at the main altar, a place of burial of princess Anna Wazówna, sister of the king of Poland, Zygmunt III Waza can be found . Her mausoleum comes from 1636. After 1724 the church belonged to the bernardine order, and in the XIX century it became a parish church, and so it remains till the present day. Side altars, main altar (1731) and the rainbow arch come from the bernardine period. Scientific research and conservation work to restore the pre-lutheran state of the building have been carried out in the church for a long time. The medieval monastery buildings that used to stand close to the church were destroyed in early XIX century.
Rafter’s Monument is located in the western part of the Old Town Marketplace. It was created in 1914 by a German sculptor, Georg Wolf from Berlin. It was founded by wealthy citizens of Toruń. The sculpture cast in bronze rests on a sandstone plinth. A well with 8 frogs sitting on its brim was also made of sandstone. The monument refers to a legend, which tells of a rafter who, with his beautiful fiddle playing, enchanted frogs residing in the town and led them outside the town walls into the suburbs of Toruń.
Artus Court, standing in the southern wall of the Old Town Marketplace, comes from 1891. It was erected in the former site of a gothic Artus Court and two citizens’ houses after the project of Rudolf Schmidt in renaissance style. In recent years it has undergone general renovation. Today it is the seat of Artus Court Cultural Centre. The great concert and ball room and other smaller rooms were meticulously rebuilt in accordance with the 1891 original. In the former Artus Court the Second Treaty o Toruń or the Second Peace of Toruń was signed in 1466 ending the thirteen years war between the king Kazimierz Jagiellończyk and the Teutonic Knights.
Was built in XVIII century and at first was an evangelist church. Since 1945 it belongs to the jesuit order, and is also referred to as the academic church. It was built in 1756 without the tower after the plan by architect Efrain Schroger. The tower (64 m high) was added in 1897-1899. The interior is of the three aisle hall type. The rococo equipment – the main altar from 1756 and two inlaid doors are ranked among the highest achievements of carpenters from Toruń. In 1989 the church was consumed by fire that destroyed ornamented XVII century organs.
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