LET'S EXPLORE POLAND

Copyright 1997 by the AngloPol Corporation

This series will take us through the cities, towns, villages and countryside of Poland, 
as well as give us insights into the rich history and culture of the nation.

Part 22

EASTERN POLAND

THE CITY OF TORUN

At the conclusion of the last chapter, we suggested a closer look at Torun. Often called the Copernican Town, after the name of its world famous citizen, it is one of the oldest and most charming Polish cities and is certainly worth spending a little more time exploring. Likewise, to truly appreciate the city, it is necessary to have at least a cursory knowledge of its history.

Torun lies on the eastern side of the Vistula River valley. It is famous not only for its monuments of architecture and Nicholas Copernicus University, but also for many interesting events taking place in the city.

Approximately 208 thousand people live in Torun. Like most university towns, Torun is a town of young people, 30-40 years old. Over 60,000 of its inhabitants are employed in various branches of business, mainly in trade, transport, education and the health service. Owing to the permanent influx of young, ambitious and open-minded people, the town changes continuously and is quite interesting.

ON THE VISTULA

For centuries, the Vistula River attracted human settlements. Some of those later developed into major Polish cities, among them Torun, for hundreds of years known as "the Queen of the Vistula" or "the inland port of the Polish Baltic areas". Of the venerable cities situated on the Vistula, Torun's history, and particularly that of the Old Town, has proved particularly closely intertwined with the river.

Now, as centuries ago, the Vistula waters reflect the medieval walls, gates, towers, the enormous block of the Old Town parish church, and a row of old town houses and granaries.

PREHISTORY OF THE CITY

The oldest human settlements on this site are connected with the wide alluvial plain on both banks of the Vistula. Many thousands of years ago, from the end of the Paleolithic era, throughout the Mesolithic and the Neolithic periods, the region served as a resting ground for bands of people wandering along the Vistula. During the Bronze Age, from approximately 1300 B.C., the Lusatian peoples established a number of settlements within the area of present-day Torun, on both banks of the river. In Roman times, the famous "amber route" passed nearby. In the early Middle Ages, numerous human settlements spread throughout the whole region. The most significant among them was a small town protected by a wooden-and-earthen wall forming a large horseshoe open towards the river, which guarded a convenient crossing place.

THE TEUTONIC ORDER

The arrival and active participation of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in granting the first city statutes on the Chelmno lands had its consequences. Until 1309, the headquarters of the Teutonic Order was still Venice, but already in the 1230s the Order's intentions were quite clear. The Knights' presence in Hungary from 1211 to 1225 ended with an expulsion order issued by King Andrew II.

It was the time of feudal division in Poland and the local Polish princes failed to see the danger in time. First, in 1222, the Silesian prince Henry the Bearded granted the Teutonic Knights the village of Losice located on his land. Three years later, he suggested that Prince Conrad of Mazovia use the Order to defend his land against Prussian invasions. Following negotiations, on April 23, 1228, the Mazovian ruler donated the Chelmno lands to the Order, but retained authority over the Knights.

In the summer of 1231 a small detachment of the Knights, supported by Conrad of Mazovia, entered the area, temporarily in Prussian hands. The arrival marked the beginning of the process of ousting and, then, total extermination of the Lettic Prussians and creation by the Order of its own state on the captured land.

The first groups of Knights received from Prince Conrad four villages and the town of Nieszawka on the left bank of the Vistula, in close proximity to today's Torun. The Knights then crossed the river not far from the village of Stary Torun to found a new settlement. Around their fortified base quickly grew a town called Torun.

CITY STATUTES

The first written document concerning Torun dates back to December 28, 1233. It is called the "Chelmno Charter" and grants Chelmno its city statutes.

This act started a series of significant events. In the 13th and 14th centuries, it played an inspirational role in the process of founding numerous towns in Poland. The document was issued by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Herman von Salza, and the National Master for Prussia and the Slavonic Lands, Herman Balk. The act was named for the place where the ceremony of bestowing the privilege was held.

For the citizens of numerous towns established throughout the 13th and 14th centuries, the document was a very favorable adaptation of the German Magdeburg statutes. A few years before the ceremony in Chelmno, when the Silesian town of Zlotoryja received its city statutes, the act had been adjusted to Polish conditions. The amended document guaranteed the right of the town to elect its own government and independent judicature. Within its territories, the Teutonic Order reserved the right only to interpret the existing laws, to sanction the highest sentences and approve locally elected town mayors. The citizens' right to elect the mayor, the town council, and the tribunal was a significant innovation in the political system and became the basis for municipal autonomy. Magdeburg itself, which served as an example for Polish towns, did not possess such privileges.

BEGINNINGS OF THE OLD TOWN

Soon, probably around 1236, the settlement was moved to a new site within the boundaries of today's Old Town. At first it only occupied about half its later area forming a rectangle whose longer side ran along the Vistula. Several streets were laid out at that time: Sw. Ducha St., Zeglarska St., Lazienna St., Mostowa St., each more than 10 meters wide and leading to the river. (Soon afterwards, presumably in the 1240s, the Knights' castle was also relocated to the vicinity of the newly moved town, near the town's eastern border on the site of an abandoned Slavonic settlement.)

The further, northern part of the city was laid out and built up during the latter half of the century. A large town market was laid out, where a town hall, a cloth hall and stalls were built.

The location of Torun on a major water route and at a convenient crossing place was one of the most significant factors contributing to the town's growth. In addition to profits from fishing and the use of its lands, forests, and pastures, from various crafts, including brewing, paper making, pottery, and the manufacture of metal objects, trade also played an important role in bringing wealth to the town and its residents. Their opulence was reflected in the rich output of outstanding artists and house builders.

The deed of location granted Torun some 3,000 hectares (11.58 sq. miles) of land. The land brought in handsome profits and enabled the town to erect and maintain many municipal buildings. Around the mid-13th century, the process of replacing the wooden-and-earthen fortifications around the Old Town with a system of brick walls, gates and towers was initiated.

The northward movement of the town's territorial limits resulted in the incorporation within its area of the Franciscan monastery. The monks probably settled in 1239 just outside the walls and soon afterwards started erecting the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and some monasterial buildings. Today's brick temple boasting three 27-meter-high aisles is one of the most magnificent examples of the "high hall" with a beautiful inspiring interior.

The town's market place was initially located in Zeglarska St., which was approximately 19 meters wide. The construction of th brick Church of SS. Johns started around 1260. It was extended in the following centuries and achieved its final magnificent form, dominating today's panorama, in the last quarter of the 15th century.

Probably around the middle of the 13th century, at 5 Zeglarska St., the "Social House" was erected. It was built of brick in the form of a "housing tower." Its facade was decorated with stone stripes and green-glazed bricks, and finished off with attractive adornments. The edifice belonged to the Brotherhood of St. George, an association of the town's merchant elite. Its aim was "to promote sociability, piety and social action."

In 1313, the function of the building was taken over by an edifice, later called "Artus' Hall," erected in the Old Town Rynek Square. It was the meeting place for Torun's patrician class and the scene of many historic events, e.g., the signing of the second Torun peace agreement.

KNIGHTS CASTLE AND THIRTEEN YEAR WAR

Probably around the mid-13th century the Teutonic Knights started extending their fortified residence, which had been moved from the neighborhood of the village of Stary Torun to the site of a wooden settlement supposedly destroyed in a Prussian raid a short time before.

The edifice was the first Teutonic castle to be built of brick and stone on the Polish soil. By symbolic coincidence the castle also went down in history as the place where the agony of the Teutonic Knights' state was initiated. On February 6, 1454, an attack on the castle by Torun's citizens served as a spark igniting a general uprising throughout Prussia. Following a short siege the Order surrendered. When the Knights left the castle, the Old Town Council in charge of the uprising ordered that the structure be destroyed and the ruins left "as a perpetual warning."

After the Polish king assisted the Prussian towns and knights in their efforts to throw off the burden of the Teutonic Order's rule, the revolt turned into a Thirteen Year War, which ended with the signing of the second Torun Peace Agreement. As an international pact, it confirmed the incorporation of the major Prussian towns and lands, with Torun, Gdansk, Elblag, Chelmno, Swiecie and Malbork, into the Kingdom of Poland. Under the act Pomerania with the Vistula estuary, and the Chelmno and Michalow regions, were returned to Poland as "lands by nature Polish." The Teutonic Order again became a vassal of the Polish monarch.

For a few centuries to follow, the area of Torun's castle was used as a rubbish dump. Between 1958 and 1966, as part of an archaeological conservation project, the walls of the destroyed cellars and ground floor were uncovered from under an eight-meter-deep layer of rubble. The ruins were left as a natural historical monument of the second Torun Peace Agreement and the place was also used for an exhibition displaying the castle's history. Most of the conservation work was carried out by volunteers. The former residence of the Teutonic Order was also the site of the first Polish light-and-sound program, showing major events in the castle's history.

THE NEW TOWN

Because of rapid development, there was soon hardly any space left for new settlers within the Old Town's borders. Some of the newcomers found employment and a dwelling place outside the walls' perimeter. They were mainly craftsmen and they eventually created a large settlement near the castle, to the east of the Old Town. In 1264, the settlement was granted city statutes and thus formed a separate administrative unit called the New Town, with its own council and court. When deciding on the layout of the town, the Old Town councilors took great care not to grant it direct access to the Vistula, thus ensuring that it could not participate in international trade.

The New Town was separated from the Old by a double line of defensive walls with gates, towers, and a moat. In the parts bordering the suburbs, the settlement was protected in the same manner. The town's spatial layout was similar to that of the Old Town, with a vast town square in its center, where a brick town hall was already built at the beginning of the 14th century.

In the south-east corner of the New Town the parish church of St. James was erected. The foundation stone was laid by Herman, the Chelmno bishop, in 1309, and works were completed in 1350. Five years earlier patronage over it had been given to the nuns from a Torun nunnery, which initially followed the Cistercian and then the Benedictine rule.

The northwest corner of the town was the site of a Dominican monastery. The first monks arrived and settled there even before the location act. Their church and monastery buildings were ready around the middle of the 14th century, but extensive construction and decoration work continued. In 1834, by an order of the Prussian authorities, the church and convent buildings were demolished. This act was preceded by the dissolution of the Dominican order. The magnificent set of stained glass windows from the monastery complex was moved to the Malbork castle and is now on display at the District Museum located in the Old Town Hall. A number of splendid sculptures and paintings found shelter in St. James Church.