I visited Torun today, a beautiful historic town in the north of Poland. In many ways Torun is like other historic towns in (Northern) Poland: It is situated next to Vistula River in a strategic location which made it a wealthy trading city and it boasts an impressive number of brick gothic houses, churches, and other structures. What makes Torun unique is that its historic medieval centre was not destroyed in World War II and many of the buildings are still in their original Medieval state. As a result, Torun has the largest number of Gothic houses in Poland and its centre has been placed on the UNESCO world heritage list.

Some other facts about Torun:

-Torun was part of the Hanseatic League; a Medieval economic and defensive organisation composed of merchant guilds from hundreds of trade cities in Northern Europe.

-Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was born in Torun. Copernicus was a typical Renaissance man and can be compared to Leonardo da Vinci who lived at the same time. He was a scientist and scholar with many talents and made many fundamental scientific discoveries. He is most known for his heliocentric model, placing the sun in the centre of the universe, which was a controversial theory at that time.

-During the reformation Torun became a largely protestant (Lutheran) city. In the centuries to follow the city was evenly split between protestants and Catholics, while there was increasing pressure on the protestants to convert as Poland embraced the counter-reformation. Tensions eventually culminated in the ‘Tumult of Thorn’. This was a series of clashes in 1724 between Catholics and Protestants that led to the execution of Lutheran officials and the mayor. The event was eagerly used by Prussia as propaganda to show how religiously intolerant and ‘backward’ Poland was which helped justify the partition of Poland half a century later. 

Originally posted on Instagram on January 23, 2022