Thorn (Polish City)

Toruń (listen) (former German name: Thorn, see also other names) is a city in northern Poland, on the Vistula river, with 204,300 inhabitants (1995). One of the capitals of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship (since 1999), previously capital of Toruń Voivodship (1975-1998) and the Pomeranian Voivodship (1921-1939), the city is near the Geographic Center of Europe.

The medieval town of Toruń is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The city of Toruń creates a bipolar aglomeration Bydgoszcz-Toruń with the city of Bydgoszcz, only 30 km away. Those 2 cities are integrating gradually. in 2003 Medical Academy in Bydgoszcz joined Toruń University.

Name of the city

Early documents record the city name as Thorn, Thorun (1226, 1466), Turon, Turun, Toron, Thoron, and after 15th century the Polish name: Toruń

Points of view diverge on the origin of Thorn/Toruń's name. There are several possible etymologies:

• 1) Founded by the Teutonic Knights nearby old Polish village named "old Toruń", Thorn may be derived after the city of Toron, that was located in the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Crusades.
• 2) It may come from a Polish word tor which means track (of Vistula river). if this is true Toruń means town on the track
• 4) It may come from Toron personal name and means Toron's town
• 3) It may have been originally Tarnów (there are many such cities in Poland, tarnina = kind of river plants), which was later Germanized into Thorn, and re-Polonized into Toruń.
• 5) It may come from a Gothic god Thor

However, others claim that neither name Toruń nor Thorn has any etymological meaning. (reference: Professor Jan Miodek)

The Teutonic Knights spelled the city usually Thorun, and later when the city was a royal city subject to Polish Kings, the Latin documents and coins usually spelled Thorun, Thorunium, civitas Thorunensis or civitas Torunensis. Later it was spelled Thorn, and after the second world war the official name was changed to Toruń when the city became part of Poland.

Famous people

Toruń was the birthplace of the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473).

Education

• Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (()was founded in 1945, based on the people of Toruń Scientific Society, Stefan Batory University in Wilno and Jan Kazimierz University in Lvov. It was one of the most respected universities in Poland.
• Wyższe Seminarium Duchowne
• Wyższa Szkoła Oficerska, zlikwidowana 27 września 2002 r.
• Toruńska Szkoła Wyższa
• Wyższa Szkoła Bankowa
• Wyższa Szkoła Kultury Społecznej i Medialnej

Economy

Major corporations

• Krajowa Spółka Cukrowa SA, Toruń
• Torfarm SA, Toruń
• Zakład Energetyczny Toruń SA, Toruń
• Elana SA, Toruń
• ThyssenKrupp Energostal SA, Toruń
• CPP-Toruń-Pacific sp. z o.o., Toruń

Politics

Toruń constituency

Members of Parliament (Sejm) elected from Toruń constituency

• Chodynicki Ryszard, SLD-UP
• Derwich Bogdan, SLD-UP
• Kuropatwiński Lech, Samoobrona
• Lewandowski Bogdan, SLD-UP
• Łuczak Krystian, SLD-UP
• Mężydło Antoni, PiS
• Olewiński Marek, SLD-UP
• Rybicki Sławomir, PO
• Sobecka Anna, LPR
• Sosnowski Zbigniew, PSL
• Sułek Leszek, Samoobrona
• Szparaga Elżbieta, SLD-UP
• Wenderlich Jerzy, SLD-UP

Municipal politics

to be written yet

Architecture

History

Toruń was a small settlement in Chelmno Land (Ziemia Chelminska), a western part of Mazovia. in 1266 it was awarded by the duke Conrad of Mazovia as a fief to the Teutonic Knights to be a safeguard against the heathen Prussians.

The Teutonic Knights built a castle there (1230-31), and the settlement acquired town rights in 1233, relocating from its original site to what is called today "Old Town" in 1236. The city soon became an important medieval trade center, and a member of the Hanseatic League. In 1263, Franciscan monks settled in Toruń, and they were followed in 1239 by Dominicans. In 1264 the neighboring Toruń New Town was founded. It was a separate town until 1454, when the old and new cities were amalgamated.

During the 14th century, Toruń joined the Hanseatic League.

• 1440 The Prussian nobility and cities led by Toruń, Elblag and Gdansk formed the Prussian Confederation.
• 1454 the cities of Prussia rose up against the Teutonic Knights: Toruń accepted the sovereignty of the Polish crown in return for recognition of its city priviliges.
• 1466 The Thirteen Years' War and uprisings of Prussian cities end with the Second Treaty of Thorn, in which the Teutonic Order ceded sovereignty over western Prussia to Casimir IV of Poland.
• With the Reformation the city became mostly Protestant.
• 1793 the city city became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia.
• 1807 under Napoleon the city became a part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.
• 1814 the city returned to the Kingdom of Prussia.
• 1871 the city became, along with the rest of Prussia, part of the German Empire.
• 1919 After World War I, under the Treaty of Versailles, the city became part of Poland, becoming the capital of the province of Pomeranian Voivodship.
• 1939 The city became German, and part of Danzig-West Prussia.
• 1945 the city became Polish after the borders were redrawn under the Potsdam Agreement reached at the end of World War II, Toruń is now located close to the geographic centre of Poland.