Toruń

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Toruń
Toruń coat of arms
Toruń (Poland)
Toruń
Toruń
Basic data
State : Poland
Voivodeship : Kuyavian Pomeranian
Powiat : District-free city
Area : 115.75  km²
Geographic location : 53 ° 1 '  N , 18 ° 36'  E Coordinates: 53 ° 0 '37 "  N , 18 ° 36' 26"  E
Height : 65 m npm
Residents : 201,798
(Jun. 30, 2019)
Postal code : 87-100 to 87-120
Telephone code : (+48) 56
License plate : CT
Economy and Transport
Rail route : Poznan –Toruń– Olsztyn
Bydgoszcz – Toruń – Warsaw
Next international airport : Bydgoszcz
Gmina
Gminatype: Borough
Surface: 115.75 km²
Residents: 201,798
(Jun. 30, 2019)
Population density : 1743 inhabitants / km²
Community number  ( GUS ): 0463011
Administration (as of 2015)
City President : Michał Zaleski
Address: Wały Sikorskiego 8
87-100 Toruń
Website : www.torun.pl



Toruń ([ tɔruɲ ] listen ? / I ), German Thorn is - besides Bydgoszcz (Bromberg)  - one of the two main cities in the Polish province Kujawy . The independent city with many North German brick Gothic buildings is the seat of the Voivodship Parliament (Sejmik), the Voivodeship Marshal with his government, the University of Toruń and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toruń . Audio file / audio sample

location

The city is located in the Kulmerland in the wide river valley of the navigable Vistula , 45 kilometers southeast of Bydgoszcz ( Bromberg ), 57 km south of Grudziądz ( Graudenz ) and 39 kilometers south of Chełmno ( Culm ). It is surrounded by extensive forest areas that are particularly closed in the south-west. The landscape is flat and poorly structured, the height differences are 10 meters.

The urban area with the associated districts and incorporated localities is 115 km² on both sides of the river. It extends from north to south to 12.7 km and from west to east to 17.5 km.

history

Main seal of the old town of Thorn from the 13th / 14th centuries Century. It shows the mother of Jesus , the patroness of the Teutonic Order , sitting on a throne under an archway flanked by two towers, with the inscription SIGILLVM BURGENSIUM IN THORVN.

middle Ages

Thorn was established in 1231 as the first settlement in the Kulmerland under the administration of the Teutonic Order . Originally this was in the area of ​​the later village of Alt-Thorn (Polish: Stary Toruń , since the end of the 20th century the district of Starotoruńskie Przedmieście ), around 7.5 km west of today's city, but was moved to its current location in 1236 due to the permanent risk of flooding relocated. The Teutonic Order was called into the country by the Polish Duke Konrad of Mazovia to Christianize the pagan Baltic Prussians living in the area . The order only became active after Emperor Frederick II had assured him of the right to rule over the land to be conquered in 1226. Landmeister Hermann von Balk laid the foundation stone for the town of Thorn in 1231 . Immigrants from Westphalia populated the city, which was granted city rights on December 28, 1233 with the Kulmer Handfeste . Thorn is the oldest city in Prussia . Thorn Castle was built in 1260 . The city supposedly got its name after the fortress and barony Toron , a crusader castle of the Teutonic Order in the Holy Land . In old documents the city is called Thoren .

In the 14th century Thorn joined the Hanseatic League and, like Elbing , Danzig , Königsberg and Kulm, belonged to the Hanseatic cities . In 1367 Thorn joined the Cologne Confederation of Hanseatic Cities. The endeavors of the order to expand its sovereignty and control trade at the same time led to armed conflicts and an alliance of the German trading cities with the Kingdom of Poland. In 1411 the First Thorner Peace was signed between the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło and the Teutonic Order. In 1454 new disputes the Ordensburg in Thorn was conquered by the Prussian Federation and destroyed by its citizens.

After the Thirteen Years War of the Cities , the Second Peace of Thorner was concluded with the Teutonic Order on October 19, 1466 . After that, the order state had to cede large areas around the lower Vistula to the autonomous Prussian Royal Share , which had voluntarily submitted to the sovereignty of the Polish crown. The cities of Thorn, Danzig and Elbing became "district cities" of the Hanseatic League of Polish-Prussian city ​​republics with political representation in the Sejm.

Early modern age

Site plan of Thorn on the Vistula ( Matthäus Merian , 1641)

The son of a merchant family, the city's most famous son, the future astronomer Nikolaus Copernicus , was born here in 1473 and attended the local Johannis School, a Latin school.

Temporary attempts by Grand Master Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach to recapture the royal Polish territories of Prussia for the Teutonic Order ended after the unsuccessful equestrian war with the armistice at Thorn on April 5, 1521. On a subsequent trip to southern Germany, Albrecht found no support for his previous plans and decided to introduce the Reformation in the order state of Prussia and to rule him from now on as Duke. Because he needed the support of King Sigismund I of Poland, his uncle, he concluded the Treaty of Krakow with him on April 8, 1525 , paid homage to him, was recognized by him as a secular duke in Prussia and was also given a privileged position in the Polish Senate.

In 1557 the council and citizenship accepted the Reformation. The Marienschule was elevated to a grammar school in 1558. At the instigation of the Polish King Władysław IV Wasa , the Thorner Religious Discussion (Colloquium charitativum) was organized in 1645 under the chairmanship of the Polish Chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński to facilitate understanding between Catholics and Protestants. Georg Calixt and Michael Behm , among others, took part. In the late 17th century , Christoph Hartknoch from Lyck ( Ełk ) , an important historian of the history of the Order of Prussia and Poland-Lithuania, was the director of the Thorner Gymnasium founded in 1568 .

In the execution of the death penalty, methods such as stakes and wheels were used until the 17th century .

Engraving by Christoph Hartknoch: Thorn. In: Old and New Prussia , 1684

During the Great Northern War , Thorn faced a siege by the army of the Swedish King Charles XII from May 26 to October 14, 1703 . exposed. The garrison of 6,000 men, made up of Saxon soldiers from Augustus the Strong , Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, was ultimately unable to prevent the city from falling. The Swedish bombardment not only caused severe damage to the city's fortifications, but also to its houses. The old town hall was burned out as a result of the bombardment, as was almost the entire west side of the old town market and other houses. Numerous other buildings were damaged, some of them badly. The city fortifications were razed by the Swedes after the capture. The war damage and the contributions to be paid several times in the following years left the city impoverished for a long time. In addition, Thorn was hit by a plague epidemic in August and September 1708 , which lasted until 1710 and claimed around 4,000 lives in the city and its surroundings.

During the Corpus Christi procession on July 16, 1724 there were disputes between the Jesuit students and the students of the Protestant grammar school. Out of this tumult, the Jesuit monastery was stormed and devastated. The government of the Polish king Augustus the Strong then brought proceedings against the city, had the mayor Johann Gottfried Rösner and nine other citizens beheaded on December 7, 1724 ( Thorner blood court ) and determined that half of the magistrate must consist of Catholics in future St. Mary's Church was to be handed over to the Catholics.

19th and 20th centuries

Dambski Palace
City theater in Thorn, around 1915

After Thorn and Danzig had joined the Prussian Confederation , reunification with the Kingdom of Prussia took place in 1793 as part of the partitions of Poland . Through the peace of Tilsit dictated by Napoleon Bonaparte , Thorn was temporarily added to Poland, restored as the Duchy of Warsaw , in 1807 . Due to the careless behavior of French soldiers unloading gunpowder barrels, on August 7, 1807, after the conclusion of the peace treaty, there was a huge explosion at the Vistula Bridge , in which around 70 people were killed; Claims for damages Thorner citizens were not answered by the French side.

On April 16, 1813, the Thorn garrison surrendered to the French General Pointcoin after a siege of several days. 100 French, 400 Polish and 3,500 Bavarian soldiers laid down their arms in front of the Russian and Prussian troops; the city had suffered greatly from the bombardment of the besiegers, which lasted from April 10th to 16th. The Vienna Congress Act of 1815 again gave Prussia, which from 1818 expanded it into a fortress. On June 21, 1815, the Prussian government submitted Thorn to the West Prussian district president in Marienwerder . Around the middle of the 19th century, Thorn had a grammar school with an attached secondary school .

In 1864, the Thorn Fortress was occupied by 2,111 men. In 1905 the garrison consisted of three infantry regiments ( No. 21 , No. 61 and No. 176 ), the Uhlan Regiment von Schmidt (1st Pommersches) No. 4 , and one battalion each of the 1st West Prussian Foot Artillery Regiment No. 11 and the 2nd Pomeranian Foot Artillery Regiment No. 15 and West Prussian Pioneer Battalion No. 17 .

At the end of the 19th century, Thorn experienced an economic boom after the construction of the Prussian Eastern Railway . The Thorner Kathrinchen (gingerbread) were a specialty . In 1885, Thorn and the garrison had 23,906 - mostly Protestant - residents. The population grew to 46,000 by the 1910 census, of which about 67 percent were German-speaking and about 32 percent Polish-speaking. Because he was stubbornly claimed by Germans and Poles as a member of their own ethnic group, the 400th and 450th birthdays of the city's greatest son, Nicolaus Copernicus, were celebrated separately in Thorn in 1873 and 1923 by the Germans and the Polish City dwellers.

Józef Piłsudski Bridge

After the end of the First World War , Thorn and most of the province of West Prussia were ceded to the Second Polish Republic ( Polish Corridor ) on the basis of the provisions of the Versailles Treaty in 1920 . At that time Torun was the capital of the Greater Pomeranian Voivodeship ( Województwo Wielkopomorskie ). Due to the strong emigration of Germans in the interwar period and continued Polonization , the proportion of the German population in the city fell to four percent in 1939. In 1934, a new Vistula Bridge was completed in Thorn from steel truss arches of the Münsterwalder Weichselbrücke, which was dismantled in 1929 (see section Transport: Bridges ).

After the attack on Poland in September 1939, Thorn was annexed by the German Reich along with the Polish Corridor ; the city of Thorn was assigned to the administrative district of Bromberg in the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia . In 1940 the Aviation Engineering School (IfL) was relocated to Thorn.

Towards the end of the Second World War , the Red Army occupied the region and the city largely spared from war damage in the spring of 1945 . The city became part of Poland again. When the Greater Pomeranian Voivodeship was restored from March 14, 1945, Toruń initially remained the capital. In the course of the downsizing of the voivodeship on April 7, 1945, with the 'large' in the name, the capital was relocated to Bromberg ( Bydgoszcz ). The German population fled or was expelled .

In 1997 the medieval old town was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO .

Toruń has been the seat of the Sejmik of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, and the voivode is based in Bydgoszcz .

Demographics

Population development until 1945
year Residents Remarks
1768 about 1,000 mostly Protestants, after severe population reduction due to the plague 1708–1710
1793 05,570
1806 08,954
1815 07,095 after the population reduction through the Napoleonic Wars
1828 11,265
1831 08,631
1852 13,113
1864 14,106 excluding the military (2,111 people), including 7,977 Protestants and 5,134 Catholics
1871 16,620 thereof 9,200 Evangelicals, 6,200 Catholics and 1,100 Jews (2,780 Poles )
1875 18,631
1880 20,617
1885 23,906
1890 27,018 of which 15,681 Protestants, 10,014 Catholics, 1,271 Jews and 52 others (3,500 Poles )
1900 29,635 thereof 16,752 Protestants, 11,571 Catholics and 1,312 others including Jews
1905 31,801 with the garrison, including 17,510 Protestants, 13,023 Catholics and 1,092 Jews (after the incorporation of the village of Mocker in 1906: 43,435 inhabitants)
1910 46.227 including 22,967 Protestants, 21,742 Catholics and
1,518 others including Jews (30,510 Germans)
1931 54,280 of which around 3,000 Germans, compared to 30,510 Germans in 1910
1943 78.224
Population since 1945
year Residents Remarks
2009 205.934

Attractions

The old town has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. With the exception of one street from the late 19th century, almost all of the buildings are medieval. The historical area consists of the old town (town charter 1231/33) and the new town (town charter 1246) created as a craftsmen's settlement. The latter was later incorporated into the old town. The castle (now ruin) of the Teutonic Order lies between the two.

Old Town Hall

town hall

The large building on the old town market in the brick Gothic was built in the 13th century and rebuilt in the Baroque style over the years until the 18th century. During the siege of Thorn by Charles XII. of Sweden burned down the town hall on September 14, 1703, and much of the documents it contained were destroyed by flames. The Acta consularia, which had been in existence since 1345, burned the civil registers, the freestyle book and many other documents important for the history of the city and for the biography of Copernicus. Due to the war damage, the contributions to be paid over and over again and the plague that broke out in 1708, which impoverished the city, the restoration of the town hall took a long time. The decision to restore it was taken in 1722, but it was only five years later that the building could be re-roofed. The restoration work was not finally completed until 1737. In the 19th century, the town hall was increased by one floor, so sensitively that only the initiated will notice. It used to be an administrative and commercial center, now it is home to the local museum. The town hall has a 40-meter-high tower that is accessible for sightseeing. The building is the architectural model for the Red City Hall in Berlin. In front of the town hall there is a Nicolaus Copernicus monument and a depiction of a Flissaken ; These Vistula raftsmen rested on the steps of the Copernicus Monument until the early 20th century.

St. John's Cathedral

The church from the 13th century, consecrated to both John the Baptist and the Evangelist John , is one of the oldest sacred buildings in the Kulmerland. This church has always been the most important in the city, first as the parish church in the old town of Toruń, then as the main church of the combined old and new town and finally as the cathedral of the newly established Toruń diocese . In the 14th and 15th centuries the church was continuously expanded. The work was temporarily interrupted because a fire destroyed part of the church in 1351. Some chapels were added to the north and south aisles. In this way, the church was widened and lengthened to 56.2 meters and it received an arcade on the west side and a tower. The church was brought to the current height of 27.3 meters. In 1406 the church tower collapsed. Soon the construction of the new tower began with a height of 52 meters. The work was under the direction of the master builder Johann Gotland and was completed by 1433. In the 15th century, the structure of the church, which impresses with its size and wealth of decorations, received its final shape. It is characterized by the sound of the church bell, made in 1500 in a bell foundry in Toruń called Tuba Dei . It has a diameter of 2.17 meters and a weight of 7200 kilograms. It is now the second largest bell in Poland. In 1530 Protestants took over the church as a result of the Reformation . From 1583 to 1596, Protestants and Catholics shared it. During these years the interior of the church was plastered and whitewashed, with the wall paintings from the 14th and 15th centuries disappearing. At the beginning of the 21st century, the paintings are partially exposed and visible again (mainly in the presbytery and on the east wall). They testify to the richness of the medieval decorations on the walls. The entrance to the church is the north vestibule adorned with a delicate brick parapet. The interior is dominated by the huge naves , the star vaults and rich furnishings.

Marienkirche

The full name of the church is : Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Polish: Kościoł Wniebowzięcia WNP) Gothic church from the 14th century with historical wall paintings (around 1380). There is also the mausoleum from 1636 for Princess Anna Wasa of Sweden (* May 7, 1568, † February 26, 1625), sister of the Polish and Swedish King Sigismund III. Wasa . The church is 27 m high and is an example of the so-called "High Hall". It has three naves of equal height with star vaults. The church was built without a tower because the Franciscans who carried out the construction had this as a rule of the order. The preserved choir stalls date from the 15th century. From the time of the monastery it still has the remains of a cloister in the access area.

Other significant individual buildings

Jakobskirche
Ordensburg with restored dansker
Wilhelmine main post office
  • Jakobskirche, built in 1309 as the parish church of Neustadt
  • Holy Spirit Church, three-aisled late baroque building, formerly Protestant parish church. Because of the city's requirements, Hugo Hartung added the neo-baroque style to the church tower at the end of the 19th century . The church has been owned by the Jesuits since 1945 .
  • Artus Court
  • Ruin of the Ordensburg Thorn of the Teutonic Knights Order from the 14th century, the oldest parts of the building being archaeologically dated to around 1240. Unusual triangular shape with Dansker in front to the east, which served as a defense tower but also as a toilet with the bridge over the canal.
  • Junkerhof
  • "Haus zum Stern" on the old town market, a baroque town house from the 17th century, one of the best-preserved buildings of this era with a filigree facade design.
  • The "Esken-Palais", also called "Roter Speicher", because of the red bricks, dates from 1590. The palace was converted into a warehouse in the 19th century
  • The "Dambski-Palais" from the baroque era, built in 1693 as the seat of the bishop. With rich facade structures and figurative elements
  • The "Nikolaus-Kopernikus-Museum", a gabled house built in the brick Gothic style in the 14th century, in which Copernicus was born in 1473.
  • various granaries from the 14th to 17th centuries
  • Defense system from the 13th and 14th centuries with city walls, some bastions , towers and city gates:
    • Nun gate
    • Sailor's Gate
    • Bridge gate, also called ferry gate
    • leaning Tower
    • Junkerhof
    • Bastion monstrance
    • Bastei cat head
  • Fastening rings in the apron from 1824 and 1910 with 12 forts
  • Crane tower
  • Main post
  • City Theater (now Teatr in Wilama Horzycy ), built 1903–1904 in Viennese Art Nouveau style by Fellner & Helmer , 842 seats

Architectural monuments outside the old town

Dybów

Museums

  • City museum in the old town hall Muzeum Okręgowe - Ratusz Staromiejski , address: Rynek Staromiejski 1
    • Ruins of the Teutonic Order Castle Ruiny Zamku Krzyżackiego on Przedzamcze Street
    • Kopernikus-Haus Dom Kopernika in Kopernika Strasse 15/17
    • Esken-Palais Czerwony Spichrz , was the seat of the respected Thorner bourgeois family.
      The family was founded by Erasm Esken, who came to Thorn from Friesland in the 15th century. It has been a city history museum since the 1990s.
  • Folklore Museum Muzeum Etnograficzne with an artillery armory from 1824 on the edge of the old town in a park.
    It is an open-air collection of historic wooden rural buildings, most of which were built in the 18th and 19th centuries in Pomerania . Address: Wały, called 19 Sikorskiego Street
  • University Museum for Natural History in Gagarina Street 9, presents exhibitions on the following topics:
    • Fauna and flora collections with exhibits from all over the world
    • Geological history
    • Zoology with animal exhibits, including an overseas fish farm for cichlids
  • Open-air museum of the tank fortification fortress Thorn
  • Gingerbread Museum (Muzeum Toruńskiego Piernika)

Regular cultural events

  • There is a regular music festival Probaltika , at which concerts and exhibitions are held every year in May.
  • Another music festival, Music and Architecture , takes place in the summer. The concerts will be performed, including a. in the community center Unter dem Stern on the old town market, in the town hall, in the Artushof and in the churches.
  • The International Film Festival “ TOFIFEST ” is taking place in Toruń, and on October 19-27 , 2019 the Festival of Independent Cinema will take place for the 17th time.
  • Together with the partner city of Göttingen, Toruń annually awards the Samuel Bogumil Linde Prize in memory of the son of the city, Samuel Bogumil Linde .

Sports

Surroundings

Near Toruń, in the village of Piwnice, there are two radio telescopes , one with a diameter of 15 meters, built in 1976, and one with a diameter of 32 meters, built in 1987. The latter is also used for VLBI observations.

Culinary specialties

The Thorner Katrinchen , a gingerbread cookie , is said to have been invented in the monastery of Thorn in the 16th century.

Districts and administrative divisions

Districts of Toruń
Polish name No. in plan German name
Starotoruńskie Przedmieście 01 still as a village: Alt-Thorn
Barbarka 02 Barbarians ( 1942–1945 Barbarahof )
Bielany 03 Weisshof
Bydgoskie Przedmieście 04th Bydgoszcz suburb
Wrzosy 05 Schönwalde
Koniuchy 06th
Chełmińskie Przedmieście 07th Culmer Vorstadt ( 1939–1945 Kulmer V. )
Rybaki (with Port Drzewny) 08th Holzhafen
Starlings Miasto 09 Old town
Katarzynka 10 Catherine Hall
Mokre 11 Mocker
Jakubskie Przedmieście 12 Jakobsvorstadt
Rubinkovo 13 Rubinkowo ( 1905–1945 Bachau )
Winnica 14th Vineyard
Grębocin nad Strugą 15th Gremboczyn ( 1909–1945 Gramtschen )
Bielawy 16 Budding
Well, Skarpie 17th Treposch
Kaszczorek 18th Kaschorek ( 1942–1945 Hohenkloster )
Piaski (Kluczyki and Kępa Bazarowa) 19th Bazar warrior, Buzar warrior
Podgórz 20th Podgorz ( 1942–1945 Amberg )
Glinki 21st Limp
Stawki 22nd Stewken
Rudak 23 Rudak ( 1942–1945 Rodeck )
Czerniewice 24 Czernewitz ( 1942–1945 Schwarzwalde )

bridges

Combined rail and road bridge at the beginning of the 20th century
Piłsudski Bridge, Old Town and the northern end of the railway bridge

In the 21st century there are four bridges across the Vistula in and near Toruń:

  • Ernest Malinowski railway bridge on the eastern edge of the city center
  • Józef Piłsudski road bridge on the western edge of the old town
  • Motorway bridge 11 km upstream of the railway bridge
  • Construction of the fourth bridge 2010–2013

The first bridge over the Vistula in the city was built in 1500 and at that time it was the longest wooden bridge in Poland and one of the longest in Europe. Its northern end was on the border of the old town and the new town in the later Ulica Mostowa ( Bridge Street ). In 1872/1873 the steel railway bridge was built as a combined railway and road bridge on the eastern edge of the city center, with one track and a narrow lane. Its supporting pillars on the bank were adorned with brick turrets and sculptures set in niches. The design was carried out by the architect Johann Heinrich Strack . The wooden bridge from 1500 fell victim to a fire in 1877 and was never rebuilt. For five decades there was again only one Vistula bridge in the city.

Plans for the construction of a new road bridge existed before 1918. It should flow into Seglerstrasse (since 1919 Źeglarska ) in the old town at the north end. The Józef Piłsudski Bridge was not built until 1928 to 1934 on the western edge of the old town. The railway bridge was then closed to road traffic. The steel construction of the road bridge came from a railway bridge built between 1905 and 1909 between Opalenie (Münsterwalde), which had just become Polish, and the town of Marienwerder (incorporated as Kwidzyn ), which had become meaningless due to its newly created border location and whose material was sufficient for two new bridges. A bridge over the Warta was built in Konin from the other half .

During the Second World War, both Thorner Vistula bridges were blown up twice, in 1939 by the advancing Polish Army 15 hours before the German occupation , in 1945 by the Wehrmacht, which had to retreat from the Red Army . In the meantime, the railway bridge had been restored and a temporary wooden one was erected instead of the steel road bridge. After the war, the railway bridge was rebuilt in 1948, the road bridge in 1950.

The third bridge, the motorway bridge on the Polish A1 from Gdansk to Krakow, is actually south of Toruń, just outside the city limits. It was built from 1992 to 1998 between the villages of Brzoza (Balkau) in the west and Grabowiec (Grabowitz) in the east so far only half-width and named after the Polish Home Army ( Armia Krajowa ). It has been expanded to its full width since 2010, but there is still a gap in the A1 south of the bridge from Toruń to behind Kowal .

In autumn 2010 the groundbreaking ceremony for a fourth Vistula bridge between the districts of Winnica (Weinberg) on ​​the right bank and Rudak on the left bank of the Vistula took place. This bridge was inaugurated on the weekend of December 6th to 8th, 2013 with a bridge festival.

railroad

The main train stations in the city are

  • Toruń Główny ( Central Station , originally "Thorn Vorstadt", on the left of the Vistula opposite the old town)
  • Toruń Miasto ( city ​​train station , to the right of the Vistula on the eastern edge of the old town)

Until 1920, the shortest rail connection from Berlin to Warsaw ran via Thorn.

Transportation

Tram stop in Thorn, 1913
Toruń tram network in 2014

The Toruń tram and city buses in Toruń are operated by the Miejski Zakład Komunikacji w Toruniu Municipal Transport Company (MZK Toruń) . According to a contract dated August 1, 1890, the Berlin-based company Havestadt & Contag opened the first horse-drawn tram line in Thorn on May 16, 1891. The line connected the city station (later Toruń Miasto ) with the then Bydgoszcz suburb. The track width has been 1000 mm since then . From February 1, 1899, the first electric ran on the same line . In addition to the first five railcars, horse-drawn cars continued to run. On December 21, 1901, the license to operate the Thorner tram was transferred to the Thorn electricity works . The works relocated two more lines at the end of 1899, which went into operation on October 23, 1907. In 1908 15 railcars and 3 sidecars were available. Even during the First World War, the fleet was expanded and one line was extended. Soon after the city passed under Polish sovereignty, more new trams were purchased. From November 16, 1924, city buses were also used. In the first quarter of 1939, the tram network in Toruń had a total length of 19.5 km, of which 2.5 km were without regular services.

During the Second World War , the tram line to the main train station was interrupted by the destruction of the Józef-Piłsudski Bridge, and after a temporary wooden bridge was built, it was replaced by a bus line. After the end of the war, as early as May 1, 1945, tram traffic in the barely destroyed city could be resumed, again on three lines by the end of the month. From February 9, 1946, buses were also put back into service. Procurement of new buses began in 1952. Toruń had three bus routes in the late 1950s and eight in the late 1960s.

Between 1969 and 1972 a new tram line was built to the Merinotex textile plant , and in 1970 the line through the old town, part of the very first line, was closed. At the beginning of the 21st century, the tram network had a length of 22 km with four day lines and one night line. The city bus network includes 37 day and 3 night lines. Passenger numbers are currently falling: in 1990 99.5 million people were carried, in 2000 it was 76 million, in 2008 only 46.5 million. The latest route in the network is the branch to the university in the north-west of the city, which opened in 2014.

Established businesses

  • Krajowa Spółka Cukrowa is based in the city and is one of the largest sugar producers in Poland with a production share of 39.4 percent (status 2004/2005).
  • The electronics group Sharp operates an LCD TV factory in Toruń .

media

politics

City President

At the head of the city administration is a city ​​president who is directly elected by the population. Since 2002 this has been Michał Zaleski.

In the 2018 election, Zaleski ran its own election committee. The vote brought the following result:

  • Michał Zaleski (Election Committee Michał Zaleski) 55.4% of the vote
  • Tomasz Lenz ( Koalicja Obywatelska ) 23.8% of the vote
  • Zbigniew Rasielewski ( Prawo i Sprawiedliwość ) 8.5% of the vote
  • Sylwia Kowalska (Election Committee "My Toruń") 7.0%
  • Sławomir Mentzen (Election Committee Sławomir Mentzen) 3.9% of the vote
  • Remaining 1.4% of the vote

Zaleski was thus re-elected in the first ballot.

City council

The city council consists of 25 members and is directly elected. The 2018 city council election led to the following result:

Twin cities

Badges of the twin cities on the Toruń administration building

Toruń has twelve twin cities:

city country since
Angers Blason d'Angers.svg France 2016
Čadca Coat of arms of Čadca.png Slovenia 1996
Goettingen DEU Goettingen COA.svg Germany 1978
Guilin People's Republic of China 2010
Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna.vaakuna.svg Finland 1989
Kaliningrad Coat of arms of Kaliningrad.svg Russia 1995
Kaunas Coat of arms of Kaunas.svg Lithuania 2016
Suffer Suffering wapen.svg Netherlands 1988
Lutsk Herb Lutsk.svg Ukraine 2008
Novo Mesto COA-Novo mesto.gif Slovenia 2009
Philadelphia Seal of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.svg United States 1976
Swindon United Kingdom 2003

Personalities

Thorn's best-known son is Nicolaus Copernicus , one of the most important astronomers of modern times , who formulated the heliocentric worldview of the solar system in his main work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium .

mayor

Honorary citizen

  • Julius Bergenroth (1817–1896), classical philologist, senior teacher at Thorner Gymnasium, member of the Prussian House of Representatives

sons and daughters of the town

1331-1791

1792-1918

1919-1945

Since 1946

Connected to the city

literature

In order of appearance

  • Erich Weise (Hrsg.): Handbook of historical places . Volume: East and West Prussia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 317). Kröner, Stuttgart 1966, DNB 456882979 , pp. 221-225 (unchanged reprint 1981, ISBN 3-520-31701-X ).
  • Horst Ernst Krüger: Thorn: City and Country. History, stories, names, memories 1231–1981 . Artushof Association, Lüneburg 1981.
  • Peter Bansleben: Thorn - Queen of the Vistula, 1231–1981. From the 750 year history of a German city . Landsmannschaft West Prussia, Landesgruppe Baden-Württemberg Stuttgart 1981 (= booklet accompanying the anniversary exhibition "Thorn - Queen of the Vistula").
  • Marian Biskup (Ed.): Toruń dawny i dzisiejszy. Zarys dziejów . Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa 1983.
  • Marian Biskup (Ed.): Historia Torunia . Towarzystwa Naukowego w Toruniu (TNT), Toruń 1992–2006
    • Vol. 1: W czasach średniowiecza (do roku 1454) . 1999.
    • Vol. 2/1: U schyłku średniowiecza iw początkach odrodzenia (1454–1548) . 1992.
    • Vol. 2/2: W czasach renesansu, reformacji i wczesnego baroku (1548–1660) . 1994.
    • Vol. 2/3: Mied̜zy barokiem i oświeceniem (1660–1793) . 1996.
    • Vol. 3/1: W czasach zaboru pruskiego (1793-1920) . 2003.
    • Vol. 3/2: W czasach Polski odrodzonej i okupacji niemieckiej (1920–1945) . 2006.
  • Bohdan Rymaszewski, Stanisław Klimek : Thorn. Architecture and history. Via Nova, Toruń 1994, ISBN 83-901314-3-9 .
  • Marian Arszyński, Tadeusz Zakrzewski: Toruń - Miasto i ludzie na dawnej fotografii (do 1939 roku) / Thorn - city and people in old photos. Towarzystwa Naukowego w Toruniu, Toruń 1995. ISBN 83-85196-61-7 .
  • Antoni Czacharowski (Ed.): Atlas historyczny miast Polskich. Tom 1: Prusy Królewskie i Warmia , zeszyt 2: Toruń. Uniw. Mikołaja Kopernika 1995, ISBN 83-231-0664-9 .
  • Bogusław Uziembło, Michał Woźniak: Thorn 1793–1920. A city on the border. Muzeum Okręgowe, Toruń 1998. ISBN 83-87083-14-3 .
  • Christofer Herrmann: Thorn - city guide. Imhof, Petersberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86568-504-9 (D), ISBN 978-83-61049-36-4 (PL)
  • Frieder Monzer: Posen, Thorn, Bromberg, with Greater Poland, Kujawia and Southeast Pomerania. Trescher, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-89794-201-1 .
  • Thorner Nachrichten , ed. by Michael Sodtke , half-yearly magazine, Lüneburg (since 1967).

Web links

Commons : Toruń  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Toruń  - travel guide
Wikisource: Thorn  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b population. Size and Structure by Territorial Division. As of June 30, 2019. Główny Urząd Statystyczny (GUS) (PDF files; 0.99 MiB), accessed December 24, 2019 .
  2. ^ City website, Prezydent Torunia , accessed February 7, 2015
  3. ^ Friedrich August Vossberg : Coins and seals of the Prussian cities Danzig, Elbing, Thorn, as well as the dukes of Pomerellen in the Middle Ages. With many coins and seals. Berlin 1841, pp. 29-30 ( books.google.de ).
  4. ^ Anton Friedrich Büsching : Extract from a description of the earth. First part, which contains Europe and the northern part of Asia. Hamburg 1771, pp. 162-166 ( books.google.de ).
  5. ↑ Beata Lake Mountain: Thorn / Toruń. In: Online encyclopedia on the culture and history of Germans in Eastern Europe. July 10, 2012.
  6. ^ Leopold Prowe : The Thorner Blood Book from 1566–1669 . In: New Prussian Provincial Papers. Third episode. Volume 11, Königsberg 1866, pp. 122-123 ( books.google.de ).
  7. ↑ Tony Jaques: Dictionary of Battles an Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity, p. 1014.
  8. ↑ H. Haeser: Historisch-Pathologische investigations. As contributions to the history of common diseases . Volume 2, Dresden and Leipzig 1841, p. 330 ( books.google.de ).
  9. ↑ Manasse Stöckel; Remarks observed during the plague which raged in Dantzig in 1709 . Hamburg 1710, section Von der Pest in Genere ff.
  10. ↑ Jacob Heinrich Zernecke: Das verpestete Thorn, or summary excerpt of the Pestlilentz epidemics, with which, according to God's will, the city of Thorn is haunted from the beginning of its construction to the present day. Thorn 1710, pp. 23-27 ( books.google.de ).
  11. ^ Leopold Prowe : The reunification of Thorn with Prussia. In: New Prussian Provincial Papers. Third episode. Volume 10, Königsberg 1865, pp. 93-103 ( books.google.de ).
  12. ^ Leopold Prove : The powder explosion in Thorn i. J. 1807 . In: New Prussian Provincial Papers . Third episode. Volume 10, Königsberg 1865, pp. 156-159 ( books.google.de ).
  13. ↑ napoleon-online.de
  14. ↑ napoleon-online.de
  15. ^ L. Wiese: The higher school system in Prussia. Historical-statistical representation. Berlin 1864, p. 81 f. ( books.google.de ).
  16. ↑ a b Steinmann: The district of Thorn - statistical description. Thorn 1866, p. 47 ( books.google.de ).
  17. ^ A b Paul von Abeln: Stammliste of the Royal Prussian Army. Berlin 1905.
  18. ↑ whc.unesco.org
  19. ^ Anton Friedrich Büsching : New description of the earth. Part II, Schaffhausen 1768, pp. 362-364, No. 4 ( books.google.de ).
  20. ↑ a b c d e Ernst Bahr et al. (1981), p. 225.
  21. ^ August Eduard Preuss : Prussian country and folklore. Königsberg 1835, pp. 413-416, No. 30 ( books.google.de ).
  22. ^ Kraatz: Topographical-statistical manual of the Prussian state. Berlin 1856, p. 625 ( books.google.de ).
  23. ^ E. Jacobson: Topographisch-Statistisches Handbuch for the district of Marienwerder , Danzig 1868, pp. 214–215, no. 248 ( books.google.de ).
  24. ^ Gustav Neumann: Geography of the Prussian State . 2nd edition, Volume 2, Berlin 1874, pp. 51-52, item 6 ( books.google.de ).
  25. ↑ a b c d e f Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. Province of West Prussia, city and district of Thorn. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  26. ↑ a b Meyer's Large Conversation Lexicon . 6th edition, Volume 19, Leipzig / Vienna 1909, pp. 501–502 ( zeno.org ).
  27. ↑ a b The Great Brockhaus. 15th edition, Volume 18, Leipzig 1934.
  28. ^ Leopold Prowe : On the biography of Nicolaus Copernicus. 1853.
  29. ↑ Antoni Czacharowski (ed.): Atlas historyczny miast Polskich. Volume 1: Prusy Królewskie i Warmia, zeszyt 2: Toruń. Uniw. Mikołaja Kopernika 1995, p. 17.
  30. ↑ The Tuba Dei - a famous large bell in Toruń, Poland
  31. ↑ MARIENKIRCHE (entry to the church on the city website [Polish.])
  32. ↑ Historic postcard of the bridge gate , accessed on October 26, 2015.
  33. ↑ TOFIFEST (official website, Engl./poln.)
  34. ^ View detail of the Vistula railway bridge in 1876 In: Zeitschrift für Bauwesen , Berlin, 1876; P. 16ff.
  35. ↑ Gazeta Pomorska (December 17, 2013): critical report on the new Vistula bridge
  36. ^ History of the MZK Toruń ( Memento from March 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Polish)
  37. ^ Result on the website of the election commission, accessed on July 27, 2020.
  38. ^ Result on the website of the election commission, accessed on July 27, 2020.
  39. ↑ Miasta bliźniacze Torunia ǀ www.torun.pl. Retrieved April 24, 2019 .
  40. ↑ Max Rosenheyn: About the high school teacher Ernst Gottfried Garbe (died at Thorn 1839) as a poet . In: Prussian provincial sheets . Volume 24, Königsberg 1840, pp. 264-271.
  41. ^ P. Koch Jensen: Isidor Henius . In: Svend Cedergreen Bech , Svend Dahl (eds.): Dansk biografisk leksikon . Founded by Carl Frederik Bricka , continued by Povl Engelstoft. 3. Edition. tape 5 : Frille – Hanssen . Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1980, ISBN 87-01-77403-4 (Danish, biografiskleksikon.lex.dk - as of July 18, 2011).