Europe Poland Torun
Dominican church
For the early history of the Dominicans in Poland, click here.
A brief history of Torun.
Torun joined the Hanseatic League around 1280. In the 14th century Torun rivalled Gdansk as an important trading center of the Baltic Sea and Central Europe. In the mid-14th century Torun numbered ten thousand inhabitants and was one of the largest agglomerations in medieval Europe. The architectural monuments of contemporary Torun bear the best witness to the city's past glory. They include the Old Town and New Town Market Squares, the Town Hall, St. John's Church, with chapels and star-like vaulting, St. James' Church, and the whole urban layout of the town's center which dates back to the 14th century.
In the Hanseatic period Torun attracted painters, wood-carvers and artists making splendid stained-glass panels. The best representative of Torun's rich scientific life is Nicolaus Copernicus (19.02.1473-24. 05.1543) the world-famed astronomer who was born and educated in Torun.
Nicolaus Copernicus' father was a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Torun since 1469.
In the city Torun the Polish King Ladislaus IV (Wladyslaw IV Vasa), and the Polish bishops invited the Catholic, Calvinist and Lutherian theologians for the meeting, called Colloquium Charitativum in Torun from 28 August till 21 November 1645.
Philately
Nicolaus Copernicus' father was member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Torun
since 1469.
Poland 1973, post-card.
750th anniversary of Torun Municipality 1233-1983.
On the stamp the Dominican church of Torun from the 'Panorama Torunia' 1634 by C.Pietesch, preserved in the Muzeum Okregowego in Torun.
Poland 1983, Mi 2876, Sc 2581.
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