Copernicus House

Facades of the tenement houses

The Copernicus House is a historic Gothic house in Toruń , Poland. It belonged to the Copernicus family in the second half of the 15th century and is considered by many historians to be the birthplace of Nicolaus Kopernikus ( Mikołaj Kopernik in Polish ).

location

The house is located in the southern part of the old town at Kopernikastraße 15-17, near the house that used to be the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus . Today it houses the Gotyk Hotel.

history

The house dates back to 1370 and is a so-called grain storage house, which in the Middle Ages had both residential and storage functions.

Facade of the house where Nicolaus Copernicus was born

At the end of the 14th century the drapery Herbord Platte became the owner of the house. In 1459, Lucas I. Watzenrode, grandfather of Nikolaus Kopernikus, took over the house from his nephew Szymon Falbrecht and handed it over to his daughter Barbara Watzenrode and her husband Nikolaus Kopernikus senior. Many historians define this building as the place where Nicolaus Copernicus was born in 1473. 7 years after the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, in 1480, the Copernicus family sold the house to Georg Polish.

In the 19th century the building was converted into rental apartments. At that time, the interior was redesigned and the facade plastered.

In 1929 the house was entered in the monument register for the first time. It was put back on that list in 1970.

The house was renovated in 1972–1973. During the work, the previous spatial arrangement was restored and, among other things, a high anteroom with a kitchen corner, a staircase and an overhanging wooden room (on the ground floor) were reconstructed. The facade of the building, which is decorated with a sharp-edged portal, brick friezes and vertical niches with tracery, was also renovated.

The building has housed the Nicolaus Copernicus Museum since 1973.

Interesting facts

Kopernik Street was formerly called Świętej Anny Street
on June 1, 1971, the Poczta Polska (German Polish Post ) issued a stamp in the series “Na szlaku Kopernika” (German on the trail of Copernicus ), which depicts the Copernicus House in Toruń with a face value of 40 Groszy. It was offset printing on chalk paper. The stamp was designed by Andrzej Heidrich. It remained in circulation until December 31, 1994.