Toruń


Toruń is a historical city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 201,447 as of December 2019. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship and the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Since 1999, Toruń has been a seat of the self-government of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and, as such, is one of its two capitals, together with Bydgoszcz. The cities and neighboring counties form the Bydgoszcz–Toruń twin city metropolitan area.
Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland, with the first settlement dated back to the 8th century and later having been expanded in 1233 by the Teutonic Knights. Over centuries, it was the home for people of diverse backgrounds and religions. From 1264 until 1411 Toruń was part of the Hanseatic League and by the 17th century it was one of the elite trading points, which greatly affected the city's architecture ranging from Brick Gothic to Mannerism and Baroque. In the early-modern age, Toruń was a royal city of Poland and it was one of the four largest cities in the country at the time. After the partitions of Poland it was part of Prussia and later the German Empire. After Poland regained independence in 1918, Toruń was reincorporated into Polish territory, and during World War II was spared from bombing and destruction. This allowed the Old Town to be fully preserved with its iconic central marketplace.
Believed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, Toruń is renowned for the Museum of Gingerbread, whose baking tradition dates back nearly a millennium, and its large Cathedral. Toruń is noted for its very high standard of living and quality of life. In 1997 the medieval part of the city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2007 the Old Town in Toruń was added to the list of Seven Wonders of Poland.
Toruń is the birthplace of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

History

The first settlement in the vicinity of Toruń is dated by archaeologists to 1100 BC. During early medieval times, in the 7th through 13th centuries, it was the location of an old Slavonic settlement, at a ford in the Vistula river.
In spring 1231 the Teutonic Knights crossed the river Vistula at the height of Nessau and established a fortress. On 28 December 1233, the Teutonic Knights Hermann von Salza and Hermann Balk, signed the foundation charters for Thorn and Kulm. The original document was lost in 1244. The set of rights in general is known as Kulm law. In 1236, due to frequent flooding, it was relocated to the present site of the Old Town. In 1239 Franciscan friars settled in the city, followed in 1263 by Dominicans. In 1264 the adjacent New Town was founded predominantly to house Torun's growing population of craftsmen and artisans. In 1280, the city joined the mercantile Hanseatic League, and thus became an important medieval trade centre.
The First Peace of Thorn ending the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War was signed in the city in February 1411 leaving the town in the hands of the Teutonic Order. In 1440, the gentry of Thorn formed the Prussian Confederation to further oppose the Knights' policies. The Confederation rose against the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights in 1454 and its delegation submitted a petition to Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon asking him to regain power over Prussia as the rightful ruler. An act of incorporation was signed in Kraków, recognizing the region, including Toruń, as part of the Polish Kingdom. These events led to the Thirteen Years' War. The New and the Old Towns amalgamated in 1454. The citizens of Thorn enraged by the Order's ruthless exploitation, conquered the Teutonic castle, and dismantled the fortifications brick by brick, except for the Gdanisko tower, which was used until the 18th century for the gunpowder storage. During the war, Toruń financially supported the Polish Army. The Thirteen Years' War ended in 1466 with the Second Peace of Thorn, in which the Teutonic Order ceded their control over the city to Poland. The Polish King granted the town great privileges, similar to those of Gdańsk. Also in 1454, in the Dybów Castle, in today's left-bank Toruń, the King issued the famous Statutes of Nieszawa, covering a set of privileges for the Polish nobility, an event that is regarded as the birth of the noble democracy in Poland, which lasted until the country's demise in 1795.
Throughout history, the city was home to notable personas, scholars and statesmen. In 1473 Nicolaus Copernicus was born and in 1501 Polish King John I Albert died in Toruń; his heart was buried inside St. John's Cathedral. In 1500, the Tuba Dei, which was the largest church bell in Poland at that time, was placed in the church of St. John the Baptist, and a bridge across the Vistula was built, which was the country's longest wooden bridge at that time. In 1506 Toruń became a royal city of Poland. In 1528, the royal mint started operating in Toruń. In 1568 a gymnasium was founded, which after 1594 became one of the leading schools of northern Poland for the centuries to come. Also in 1594, the Toruń's first museum was established at the school, beginning the city's museal traditions. A city of great wealth and influence, it enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period. Sejms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were held in Toruń in 1576 and 1626.
In 1557, during the Protestant Reformation, the city adopted Protestantism. Under Mayor Heinrich Stroband, the city became centralized. Administrative power passed into the hands of the city council. In 1595 Jesuits arrived to promote the Counter-Reformation, taking control of St. John's Church. The Protestant city officials tried to limit the influx of Catholics into the city, as Catholics already controlled most of the churches, leaving only St. Mary's to Protestant citizens. In 1645, at a time when religious conflicts occurred in many other European countries and the disastrous Thirty Years' War was fought west of Poland, in Toruń, on the initiative of King Władysław IV Vasa, a three-month congress of European Catholics, Lutherans and Calvinists was held, known as Colloquium Charitativum, an important event in the history of interreligious dialogue.
In 1677 the Prussian historian and educator Christoph Hartknoch was invited to be director of the Thorn Gymnasium, a post which he held until his death in 1687. Hartknoch wrote histories of Prussia, including the cities of Royal Prussia.
During the Great Northern War, the city was besieged by Swedish troops. The restoration of Augustus the Strong as King of Poland was prepared in the town in the Treaty of Thorn by Russian Tsar Peter the Great. In the second half of the 17th century, tensions between Catholics and Protestants grew, similarly to religious wars throughout Europe. In the early 18th century about 50 percent of the populace, especially the gentry and middle class, were German-speaking Protestants, while the other 50 percent were Polish-speaking Roman Catholics. Protestant influence was subsequently pushed back after the Tumult of Thorn of 1724.
After the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the city was annexed by Prussia. It was briefly regained by Poles as part of the Duchy of Warsaw in years 1807–1815, even serving as the temporary capital in April and May 1809. In 1809 Toruń was successfully defended by the Poles against the Austrians. After being re-annexed by Prussia in 1815, Toruń was subjected to Germanization and became a strong center of Polish resistance against such policies. New Polish institutions were established, such as Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu, a major Polish institution in the Prussian Partition of Poland, founded in 1875. In 1976 it was awarded the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, one of highest Polish decorations.
After World War I, Poland declared independence and regained control over the city. In interwar Poland Toruń was capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. During World War II, Germans occupied the city from 7 September 1939 to 1 February 1945. Local people were subjected to arrests, expulsions, slave labor and executions, especially the Polish elites as part of the Intelligenzaktion. From 1940 to 1943, in the northern part of the city there was a German transit camp :pl:Niemiecki obóz przesiedleńczy w Toruniu|Umsiedlungslager Thorn for Poles expelled from Toruń and the surrounding area, which became infamous for inhuman sanitary conditions. Over 12,000 Poles passed through the camp, and around 1,000 died there, including about 400 children. Despite this, the city fortunately avoided damage during both World Wars, thanks to which it retained its historic architecture ranging from Gothic through Renaissance and Baroque to the 19th and 20th century styles.

Sights

Listed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since 1997, Toruń has many monuments of architecture dating back to the Middle Ages. The city is famous for having preserved almost intact its medieval spatial layout and many Gothic buildings, all built from brick, including monumental churches, the Town Hall and many burgher houses. The most interesting monuments are:

Gothic architecture

Toruń has the largest number of preserved Gothic houses in Poland, many with Gothic wall paintings or wood-beam ceilings from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
Toruń, unlike many other historic cities in Poland, escaped substantial destruction in World War II. Particularly left intact was the Old Town, all of whose important architectural monuments are originals, not reconstructions.
Major renovation projects have been undertaken in recent years to improve the condition and external presentation of the Old Town. Besides the renovation of various buildings, projects such as the reconstruction of the pavement of the streets and squares, and the introduction of new plants, trees and objects of 'small architecture', are underway.
Numerous buildings and other constructions, including the city walls along the boulevard, are illuminated at night, creating an impressive effect - probably unique among Polish cities with respect to the size of Toruń's Old Town and the scale of the illumination project itself.
Toruń is also home to the Zoo and Botanical Garden opened in 1965 and 1797 respectively and is one of the city's popular tourist attractions.

Districts

Toruń is divided into 24 administrative districts or boroughs, each with a degree of autonomy within its own municipal government. The Districts include: Barbarka, Bielany, Bielawy, Bydgoskie Przedmieście, Chełmińskie Przedmieście, Czerniewice, Glinki, Grębocin nad Strugą, Jakubskie Przedmieście, Kaszczorek, Katarzynka, Koniuchy, Mokre, Na Skarpie, Piaski, Podgórz, Rubinkowo, Rudak, Rybaki, Stare Miasto, Starotoruńskie Przedmieście, Stawki, Winnica, Wrzosy.

Symbols

The colors of Toruń are white and blue in the horizontal arrangement, white top, blue bottom, equal in size. The flag of the city of Toruń is a bipartite sheet. The upper field is white, the lower field is blue. If the flag is hung vertically, the upper edge of the flag must be on the left.
The flag with the coat of arms is also in use. The ratio of the height of the coat of arms to the width of the flag is 1:2.

Climate

The climate can be described as humid continental using the isotherm of 0 °C or an oceanic climate because it is there 0.2 °C above the normal threshold of 1961–1990, probably definitively in the second if the data is updated. In general terms, the city passes close to the original boundary and dividing line of climates C and D groups in the west–east direction proposed by climatologist Wladimir Köppen considering that it was in relatively close places. Toruń is in the transition between the milder climates of the west and north of the Poland and the more extreme ones like the south and the east. Although not much different from Kraków and Warsaw, except for the slightly cooler winters and the less hot summers.
Being close to definitely continental climates, it has a high variability caused by the contact of eastern continental air masses and western oceanic ones. This is influenced by the geographical location of the city – the Toruń Basin to the south, and the Vistula Valley to the north.

Demographics

The most recent statistics show a decrease in the population of the city, from 211,169 in 2001 to 202,562 in 2018. Among the demographic trends influencing this decline, are: suburbanisation, migration to larger urban centres, and wider trends observed in the whole of Poland such as general population decline, slowed down by immigration in 2017. The birth rate in the city in 2017 was 0.75. Low birthrates have been consistent in the city for the first two decades of 21st Century.
The official forecasts from Statistics Poland state that by 2050 the city population will have declined to 157,949.
Inside the city itself, most of the population is concentrated on the right bank of the Vistula river. Two of the most densely populated areas are Rubinkowo and Na Skarpie, housing projects built mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, located between the central and easternmost districts; their total population is about 70,000.
The Bydgoszcz–Toruń metro area of Toruń and Bydgoszcz, their counties, and a number of smaller towns, may in total have a population of as much as 800,000. Thus the area contains about one third of the population of the Kuyavia-Pomerania region.

Transport

The transport network in the city has undergone major development in recent years. The partial completion of ring road, the completion of the second bridge and various road, and cycling lane improvements, including construction of Trasa Średnicowa, have decidedly improved the traffic in the city. However, noise barriers that have been erected along the new or refurbished roads have been criticised as not conducive to a beautiful urban landscape. The extensive roadworks have also drawn attention to the declining population numbers, casting doubt that the city might over-delivered for the future number of road users, as the demographic trends forecast from Statistics Poland predicts a reduction of population by almost 1/4 by year 2050.
The city's public transport system comprises five tram lines and about 40 bus routes, covering the city and some of the neighboring communities.
Toruń is situated at a major road junction, one of the most important in Poland. The A1 highway reaches Toruń, and a southern beltway surrounds the city. Besides these, the European route E75 and a number of domestic roads run through the city.
With three main railway stations, the city is a major rail junction, with two important lines crossing there. Two other lines stem from Toruń, toward Malbork and Sierpc.
- the older of the two road bridges in Toruń
The rail connection with Bydgoszcz is run under a name "BiT City" as a "metropolitan rail". Its main purpose is to allow traveling between and within these cities using one ticket. A joint venture of Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Solec Kujawski and the voivodeship, it is considered as important in integrating Bydgoszcz-Toruń metropolitan area. A major modernization of BiT City railroute, as well as a purchase of completely new vehicles to serve the line, is planned for 2008 and 2009. Technically, it will allow to travel between Toruń-East and Bydgoszcz-Airport stations at a speed of in a time of approximately half an hour. In a few years' time "BiT City" will be integrated with local transportation systems of Toruń and Bydgoszcz, thus creating a uniform metropolitan transportation network – with all necessary funds having been secured in 2008.
Since September 2008, the "one-ticket" solution has been introduced also as regards a rail connection with Włocławek, as a "regional ticket". The same is planned for connection with Grudziądz.
Two bus depots serve to connect the city with other towns and cities in Poland.
, a small sport airfield exists in Toruń; however, a modernization of the airport is seriously considered with a number of investors interested in it. Independently of this, Bydgoszcz Ignacy Jan Paderewski Airport, located about from Toruń city centre, serves the whole Bydgoszcz-Toruń metropolitan area, with a number of regular flights to European cities.

Economy

Although a medium-sized city, Toruń is the site of the headquarters of some of the largest companies in Poland, or at least of their subsidiaries. The official unemployment rate, as of September 2008, is 5.4%.
In 2006, construction of new plants owned by Sharp Corporation and other companies of mainly Japanese origin has started in the neighboring community of Łysomice - about from city centre. The facilities under construction are located in a newly created special economic zone. As a result of cooperation of the companies mentioned above, a vast high-tech complex is to be constructed in the next few years, providing as many as 10,000 jobs at the cost of about 450 million euros., the creation of another special economic zone is being considered, this time inside city limits.
Thanks to its architectural heritage Toruń is visited by more than 1.5 million tourists a year. This makes tourism an important branch of the local economy, although time spent in the city by individual tourists or the number of hotels, which can serve them, are still not considered satisfactory. Major investments in renovation of the city's monuments, building new hotels, improvement in promotion, as well as launching new cultural and scientific events and facilities, give very good prospects for Toruń's tourism.
In recent years Toruń has been a site of intense building construction investments, mainly residential and in its transportation network. The latter has been possible partly due to the use of European Union funds assigned for new member states. Toruń city county generates by far the highest number of new dwellings built each year among all Kuyavian-Pomeranian counties, both relative to its population as well as in absolute values. It has led to almost complete rebuilding of some districts., many major constructions are either under development or are to be launched soon - the value of some of them exceeding 100 million euros. They include a new speedway stadium, major shopping and entertainment centres, a commercial complex popularly called a "New Centre of Toruń", a music theater, a centre of contemporary art, hotels, office buildings, facilities for the Nicolaus Copernicus University, roads and tram routes, sewage and fresh water delivery systems, residential projects, the possibility of a new bridge over the Vistula, and more. Construction of the A1 motorway and the BiT City fast metropolitan railway also directly affects the city. About 25,000 local firms are registered in Toruń.

Culture

Toruń has two drama theatres, two children's theatres, two music theatres, and numerous other theatre groups. The city hosts, among others events, the international theatre festival, "Kontakt", annually in May.
A building called Baj Pomorski has recently been completely reconstructed. It is now one of the most modern cultural facilities in the city, with its front elevation in the shape of a gigantic chest of drawers. It is located at the south-east edge of the Old Town. Toruń has two cinemas including a Cinema City, which has over 2,000 seats.
Over ten major museums document the history of Toruń and the region. Among others, the "House of Kopernik" and the accompanying museum commemorate Nicolaus Copernicus and his revolutionary work, the university museum reveals the history of the city's academic past.
The Tony Halik Travelers' Museum was established in 2003 after Elżbieta Dzikowska donated to citizens of Toruń a collection of objects from various countries and cultures following the death of her husband, famous explorer and writer Tony Halik. It is managed by the District Museum in Toruń.
The Centre of Contemporary Art opened in June 2008 and is one of the most important cultural facilities of this kind in Poland. The modern building is located in the very centre of the city, adjacent to the Old Town. The Toruń Symphonic Orchestra is well-rooted in the Toruń cultural landscape.
Toruń is home to a planetarium and an astronomical observatory. The latter boasts the largest radio telescope in Central Europe with a diameter of, second only to the Effelsberg radio telescope.
Toruń is well known for Toruń gingerbread, a type of piernik often made in elaborate molds. Muzeum Piernika in Toruń is Europe's only museum dedicated to gingerbread. The 15-year-old composer Fryderyk Chopin was smitten with Toruń gingerbread when he visited his godfather, Fryderyk Skarbek, there in the summer of 1825.
Toruń is a center of conservative Roman Catholic culture. Redemptorist Tadeusz Rydzyk has organized here Radio Maryja, Telewizja Trwam, a college whose students contribute to the mentioned media. Now a museum is being constructed.

Education

Over thirty elementary and primary schools and over ten high schools make up the educational base of Toruń. Besides these, students can also attend a handful of private schools.
The largest institution of higher education in Toruń, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń serves over 20 thousand students and was founded in 1945, based on the Toruń Scientific Society, Stefan Batory University in Wilno, and Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv. The existence of a high-ranked and high-profiled university with so many students plays a great role the city's position and importance in general, as well as in creating an image of Toruń's streets and clubs filled with crowds of young people. It also has a serious influence on local economy.
Other public institutions of higher education:
There are also a number of private higher education facilities:
Also located in Toruń is one of the oldest high schools in Poland, :pl:I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu|I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Mikołaja Kopernika, which dates back to a gymnasium founded in 1568.

Healthcare

Six hospitals of various specializations provide medical service for Toruń itself, its surrounding area and to the region in general. The two largest of these hospitals, recently run by the voivodeship, are to be taken over by Nicolaus Copernicus University and run as its clinical units. At least one of them is to change its status in 2008, with the formal procedures being very advanced.
In addition, there are a number of other healthcare facilities in the city.

Media

International relations

Honouring Toruń's sister relationship with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Bulwar Filadelfijski, a long street running mostly between Vistula River and walls of the Old Town and the boulevard itself, bears its name.
The Ślimak Getyński is one of the lanes connecting Piłsudski Bridge / John Paul II Avenue with Philadelphia Boulevard at their downtown interchange. It honours the relationship with Göttingen, its name derived from the street's half-circular shape.

Twin towns – Sister cities

Toruń is twinned with:

  • Kaliningrad, Russian Federation, since 1995
  • Čadca, Slovakia, since 1996
  • Swindon, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom, since 2003
  • Novo Mesto, Slovenia, since 2005
  • Lutsk, Ukraine, since 2008
  • Guilin, China, since 2010

    • Gallery

    Significant depictions in popular culture