Torun, city and port in central Poland, capital of Torun Province, on the Wisla River. A road and rail hub, the city is also an industrial center, with manufactures including chemicals (especially fertilizers), textiles, machinery, tools, armatures, and furniture and wood products. Torun has been famous for its honey cakes and gingerbread ever since the Middle Ages.
Preserving many medieval Gothic and baroque buildings, the old city still has a leaning tower, gates, and walls along the river. Among the old buildings of interest are the rebuilt town hall (13th-14th century), containing a museum; the churches of Saint John, Our Lady, and Saint James; ruins of a castle of the Teutonic Knights (1231); an ethnographic museum housed in a former arsenal; the Pomeranian Theater; and Gothic and baroque mansions. In Torun is a university named for the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, born in the city. Torun was chartered in 1233. The treaties of 1411 and 1466 signed in the city placed the Teutonic Knights under Polish rule. In 1595 and 1645 religious synods were held in the city. The city was under German rule for most of the 19th century and during World War II (1939-1945), when it was called Thorn. From 1919 to 1939 Torun was the capital of the Polish province of Pomorze. Population (1997 estimate) 205,800.
