100026576_Reception_booklet_Torun

Toruń

AIESEC in Poland Local Committee Torun UMK Phone/fax: (+48)(56) 611 46 39 www.torun.aiesec.pl

Location of Toruń

Toruń is located in the northern Poland on the Vistula River. One of two main cities of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province


•Torun is the most Gothic urban complex in Poland, one of the most important tourist centres of unique value in the state

•It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List

•the birthplace of Nicholas Copernicus

•one of the most important tourist centresof unique value in the state

It is called ‘the city of the young”

•There are over 1000 various cultural events

•The city is comfortable to live but also tourist- friendly

•It belongs to the New Hanseattic League

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History

•During medieval ages there was a small settlement here guarding the crossing of the river named Toruń.

•It acquired city rights in 1233 and was relocated 3 years later from its original site to the Old Town.


Monuments

As Torun was not destroyed by the world war II today one can admire the very original historical monuments.


•Torun is the most Gothic urban complex in Poland, one of the most important tourist centres of unique value in the state

Gothic....


...of unique value....

Promocję tworzymy tak by była skuteczna


•Monumental building of one of the greatest town halls in Europe, with excellent interiors. •It is one of the most outstanding achievements of medieval architecture

• Its models are to be sought in Flanders with which Torun -as an Hanseatic town - had close commercial relations.

•The Gothic Old City Town Hall has been built in the second half of the 13th century..

Splendid panoramic view of Torun can be admired from the top (40 m).

Old City Town Hall

The Town Hall's tower


St. Mary's Church

•The 14th century Gothic church was built by Franciscan friars who had been brought to Torun in 1239 due to the Teutonic Order's initiative.

• It was the first and the most important monastery in all the Teutonic State

•St. Mary's church is one of the three largest Gothic churches in Northern Poland.

•Inside we can see the very precious wall paintings dating back to the second half of the 14th century.


•. Panoramic view platform from which the beautiful panorama of Gothic Torun can be admired.

St. Johns' Cathedral

The Catledral's Tower

•The Cathedral is one of the five Torun's most valuable historical monuments of a highest world class

•One of three gothic churches of the town, built from brick, aisled hall with monumental west tower. •At the tower hangs Tuba Dei, the 3rd largest bell in Poland, cast in 1500.


St. James' Church

•It is a parish church for the Torun New City and represents the style of Basilica-Gothic.• The church has the greatest pieces of sacramental architecture which can be found in the territory of the former Teutonic State. •The construction of the church began in 1309. •The main part was finished in 1340.


•The name of the church comes from the chapel of St. Catherine founded in 1360 by the Municipal Council of the Torun New City.• Legends have it that the nuns living here were to initiate the baking of gingerbreads called Catherine's (katarzynki).• This word may be associated with the great annual fairs held on St. Catherine's day during which the products of Torun gingerbread makers were especially popular.

Originally it was an evangelic church built in the middle of the 18th century to replace six burnt houses. A late-baroque building in simple architectonic dress.

Holy Spirit Church

St. Catherine Church


The city is having preserved almost intact its medieval spatial layout and many Gothic buildings including monumental churches,

the Town Hall and many burgher houses.

Gothic buildings…


…and monuments


The Star House

•It was built at the turn of 13th and 14thcenturies.

• Part of the cellars and inside walls of the great hallway have remained since the period. •Towards the end of the 16th century the building was enlarged and took its present shape.

•Richly carved stairs and the façade with the beautiful ornamentation in the shape of flowers and fruit come from the 17th century.

• The house can be well numbered among the most presentable Baroque town buildings in the Northern Europe.


Arthus Mansion

•This Neo-Renaissance building astounding in its excessive proportions was built in the years 1889-1891 on the site of the medieval Arthus' Mansion (built in 1386).• It was the headquarter of the prestigious patrician St. George Guild, called also Arthus' Guild. •Such a organisations used to exist in the Middle Ages in a major cities all over the Northern Europe and especially in the Teutonic Order state and linked to the legendary Celtic king Arthur.


•It is one of the medieval defence towers of Torun Old City from the 14th century. •It is one of the most well known objects in the city. •The tower earned its name due to the fact that it gently leans to the North as a result of clayey soil on which it was built. It leant soon after building. •The tower is 15 m high and the declination is 1.4 m.

The Leaning Tower


•The castle construction started after 1236 on the site of the 10-12th century Polish fortified settlement. •a small elevation on the bank of the Vistula River, near the outlet of the Struga Torunska stream.•It was the first Teutonic Knights' castle in Poland, the headquarter of a Commander and one of the most important convents of the Teutonic Knights state.

Teutonic Knights' castle ruins


Nicolaus Copernicus

•Was born in Toruń.

•He was the first european astronomer to formulate a modern heliocentric theory of the solar system.

•His reiteration that the sun is at the center of the solar system is considered among the most important landmarks in the history of western science.


•The monument stands in the front of the Old City Town Hall tower.•. The monument of the great astronomer was executed in bronze according to the project of the Berliner sculptor Friedrich Tieck.• A granite plinth carries the inscription in Latin: Nicholas Copernicus the citizen of Torun moved the Earth and stopped the Sun.

•It is a typical medieval merchant house with richly ornamented Gothic façade and typical layout of interiors. .• Hence the house is the best example of medieval houses in Poland. •The house and its rooms are equipped with a typical furnishing and utensils of that times.

Nicholas Copernicus House

Nicholas Copernicus Monument


•The Astronomy Centre of Nicholas Copernicus University is one of the greatest and most up-to-date observatories. •It is known - among others - because of the Europe's third largest radio telescope of 32 m in diameter. Prof. Aleksander Wolszczan, world famous astronomer, the discoverer of out-of-solar planetary system is the manager of this science centre.

•The visit to planetarium is an inseparable point of every trip to Torun. •Modern object of planetarium, special effects ensure unforgettable impressions. •It's here where in the middle of the day you can see a starlit sky, make a cosmic journey to a far planets and so on.

Nicholas Copernicus University Astronomy Observatory

Planetarium


•The famous gingerbread all over the world are known as Torun's Gingerbreads.• The simple Katarzynka (Catherine) shaped like six intertwined circles or figural and decorative forms of the gingerbreads are the tradition, heritage, symbol and indispensable souvenir of Torun.•The phenomenon of the Torun's Gingerbreads is not only the taste but also the decorative, beautiful forms. •The moulds richly decorated are the piece of art themselves and represents a high level of the old Torun wood-carving.

•Gingerbread Museum came into being in Toruń - city of Copernicus, also famed for its gingerbread! But seeing and tasting is not enough - it is also worthwhile participating in the process of making the aromatic dough.• Add some honey, crushed cardamom, cloves and even a pinch of pepper all by yourself... then knead the dough, roll it, put in into a beautifully ornamented form, and while waiting for your own gingerbread to bake in an antique oven, listen to some legends about Toruń...

Gingerbread

Gingerbread

Museum


Museums

• Old City Town Hall (District Museum) • Nicholas Copernicus House • The Star House • The Eskens' House• Teutonic Knights' Castle Ruins • Tony Halik Travellers Museum • Etnographical Museum and Park • Fishing and Farming Farm • Nicholas Copernicus University Astronomy Observatory • Planetarium • Writing and Printing Museum • Nicholas Copernicus University Museum • Heritage Fortress Park AB IV Battery• Gingerbread Museum


Philadelphia Boulevard

Bulwar Filadelfijski - about a 1.5 km long street running mostly between Vistula River and walls of the Old Town, and the 2k m long boulevard itself (bearing the same name), honours sister relationship with Philadelphia.


Nicolaus Copernicus University

•The founding of the in 1945.

•One of the best universities in Poland

• Toruń is academic centre


... „the city of the young”

• over 35 thousand students of

the university make Toruń „the city of the young”

•Juvenalia are the biggest celebrity of students


Festivals and cultural events

•There are over 1000 various cultular events taking place in Toruń every year so it is called „the city of festivals”

May Probaltica Chamber Music and Art Festival of Baltic

Countries

June Kontakt International Theatres Festivals

August The Great Knight’s Tournament

July Toffifest International Film Festival

November Plateaux International Festival of Electronic Music

November Toruń One- Man Theatre Shows

October International Festival of Piano

October Jewish Culture Festival

July Artur Jazz Festival


„Od Nowa”

„Hipnoza”

„Toruńska Piwnica Artystyczna”

„Solaris”

„Cotton Club”

„U Szwejaka”

„Art Cafe”

„Piwnica Pod Aniołem”

„Mockba”

„Lizzard

King”

Clubs- Pubs

•There are lot pubs in Torun- about 100•Some of them are situated in historic and gothic cellar


Sport and active time

•The best places in Toruń for beeig active are:

Tennis Courts

Mini Aqua Swimming pool

Gato Climbing Centre

Skating Rink

Gra Kula- bowling centre

Bella Line Wellness centre

Stud Farm Agrofood S.A


Toruń

...so come and see one of the most

beautiful cities in Poland

AIESEC in Poland

Local Committee TORUN UMK

Phone/fax: (+48)(56)611 46 39

www.torun.aiesec.pl

Design by Anna Caban

http://www.torun.aiesec.pl/

Documents

100026576_Reception_booklet_Torun