Toruń Gingerbread (Lebkuchen)

In this shop of the firm Kopernik you can buy all
kinds of ginger breads (Lebkuchen).

"Lebkuchen" are already baked from the 14th century.

Not only because of the the good flour and honey from the neighbourhood Torun was the right city for these cakes.

Also the fact that Torun was situated at the European trade roads, made it possible to obtain the right spices.

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Here you can read more about the firm or about the history in a virtual book format.

Toruń Szeroka Corner II

Nowadays it is still a store house, but more a shopping wall with several different shops.

It's called Dom Towarowy and on the first floor, where you could see clothes on the picture below, now coffee and snacks are sold.

If you compare the pictures you see that some buildings have got an extra floor.

Toruń Szeroka Corner I

This corner is the most famous corner of Torun, since the statue of Copernicus is erected here.

You see the most left building, the store house of M.S. Leiser.

The picture is made in the beginning of 1900.

Toruń Gwiazda Kopernika

An animation movie about Copernicus has been released.

See here for the trailer.

Toruń 4 June 1989-2009

This picture has nothing to do with Torun but it's for sure that after the first elections and the fall of the wall in 1989 Poland started to grow and grow in a remarkable way.

This has had a great influence on the millions of tourists that came from all over the world to finally visit the countries behind the "the iron curtain".

These visits were only possible after a lot of bureaucracy and efforts in the past.

Also Torun may be pleased to see that, after the streams of tourists from Middle Europe, now really international groups of tourists from all over the world, visit this beautiful city.

Toruń Renovation Szeroka

In 2008 the local government started the renovation of Szeroka.

The renovation should be finished at the end of 2008.

The project overruns now months and months.

Timeconsuming was also the time that archeologists needed to search for traces when suddenly workmen encountered a big part of the castle that has been built by the Teutonic knights.

Toruń Popiełuszko

Yesterday was Fr. Jerzy's name's day!

Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko was killed 25 years ago by the communists in the neighbourhood of Torun in the direction of Włocławek.

In Toruń a memorial stone, that is visited by a lot of people, is erected.

Popiełuszko was a staunch anti-communist, and in his sermons, interwove spiritual exhortations with political messages, criticizing the Communist system and motivating people to protest.

During the period of martial law, the Catholic church was the only force that could voice protest comparatively openly, with the regular celebration of Mass presenting opportunities for public gatherings in churches.

The Służba Bezpieczeństwa arrested him in 1983, but he was released on intervention of the clergy and received amnesty.

A car accident was set up to kill Jerzy Popiełuszko on October 13, 1984, but he escaped it.
On October 19 1984 he was kidnapped and murdered by Security Police officers.

His body was dumped in the Wisla Water Reservoir near Włocławek and found on October 30, 1984

Toruń Prison Okrąglak

Almost at the corner of the Fosa Staromiejska and Piekary street is a lamp-post with signs with the names of five of the many hotels in Toruń.
The signs point to the direction in which the hotels are situated.

It’s strange that one "hotel" is not mentioned, namely the ”hotel” that you see behind the signs. It’s the Toruń “Government Hotel” :) or better the city prison, built in the XIX century.

In 1992 the prison, called Okrąglak for it has been built like a rotunda, was renovated and

after that still in use.

Before the renovation I have seen how women and children had contact with the prisoners during their break. By sign language and screaming they bridged the distance between the high windows of the prison and the street. Slanging matches seemed to take the best part of the time.

Nowadays the windows are hermetically closed and that is the end of the lively street theatre.

Toruń Fragment Book Copernicus

Fragment of a book of Copernicus and the end of the XV century, published in the news paper Nowosci