date: 21.11.2024 current local time in Toruń:
  
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> Toruń at a Glance

 

 
         
Toruń is one of the oldest and full of historical monuments cities in Poland with the population over 205,000. It is a large centre of economic life, science, culture and a popular tourist destination. Lying on the Vistula River and the southern edge of the Chelmno Land (former Teutonic order localization) the city is an 800 years old. With its Hanseatic tradition, it has for ages played a major role in the commercial relationships between Northern and Western Europe on the one hand, and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe on the other hand. Today Toruń is the self-government capital of the Kuiavia-Pomerania administrative region (Polish: Województwo Kujawsko-Pomorskie) and an important administration centre.
 
Fragment of the 17th-century Vistula River panorama of old Toruń
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Toruń intro

Toruń, one of the most beautiful historic cities of Poland, cut in the middle by the stately waters of the Vistula River, is located in an area, where ancient trade routes used to intersect. The Gothic buildings of Toruń's Old Quarter, which won the designation of World Heritage Site from UNESCO in 1997, present proof of economic, cultural and intellectual ties of Toruń with the leading cities of Europe associated in the Hanseatic League dating back to the Middle Ages.
These traditional ties have been propagated to this day by the contemporary residents of the city of Copernicus.

The city, which has always been open to new ideas, being involved in multi-faceted discourses, gathered intellectual elites, providing them with great conditions for creative life.
This situation has remained to this day: Toruń is one of the most recognized academic centres. The Nicolaus Copernicus University, a successor of traditions of the Stefan Batory University of Vilnius, puts its primary focus on propagation and creative development of the fine arts, literature, history, and astronomy. The so-called Toruń school of preservation of cultural properties has been widely known throughout the world. Accomplishments of the Astronomical Research Centre of the University are highly regarded by scientists.

The unique and carefully cherished beauty of Toruń creates a spiritual climate facilitating artistic activity. That's why talented artists and culture propagators have settled here. Their activity in the field of art makes Toruń one of the European cities known for organization of prestigious music, theatrical and art festivals such as the "Europe-Toruń. Music and Architecture Summer Festival", "Probaltica" Music and Art Festival of the Baltic Countries, "Kontakt" International Theatrical Festival, Internationa Biennal Exhibition of Children and Youth's Graphic Arts and other.

Nearly eight-centuries old Toruń teems with life. Its residents, predominated by young, educated and ambitious people, can be described by entrepreneurship, which is always appreciated here. It contributes to development of industry, trade and various services.
Toruń, with its everlasting beauty of medieval architecture, decorated with colorful palette of squares and gardens, a plethora of cozy cafes, restaurants and comfortable hotels, invites to its always open and hospitable gates.
We can assure you that once you visit the city, you will always try to come back here.

 
People of Toruń
Educated men of intellect have always been estimated in Toruń. Throughout the centuries incomers, known for their erudition, had been encouraged to settle in the city, where they were offered prosperous living standard. In order to educated the local youth new schools had been established, whereas more affluent residents of Toruń had been frequently sending their sons to famous universities. This was done by popular merchant Nicolaus Copernicus (>>), although he probably was not aware of splendor that will be bestowed upon the city by his offspring.
 
Among the eminent personalities in Toruń, Nicolaus Copernicus was undoubtedly the greatest. However, there were others who made the city famous by their artistic contribution. People who significantly contributed to the development of Polish or European science include, for example Paulus Guldenius (1588-1658) – an eminent pharmacist, the court pharmacist of Polish King Ladislas Vasa and John Casimir Vasa, the author of the first Polish-German-Latin dictionary of pharmaceutical terms, comprising descriptions of the then medicines and illnesses; Adam Freytag (1608-1650) – a military engineer, doctor, professor, recognized expert on the Old Dutch School of Fortification; Samuel Thomas Soemmerring (1755-1830) – the most eminent anatomist, doctor and physiologist of the turn of the 19th century, the discoverer of macula lutea (an oval yellow spot near the centre of the retina of the human eye) and designer of the galvanic telegraph; Fryderyk Skarbek (1792-1866) – a leading representative of Polish economical thought, a professor of Warsaw University (for more click here).
The intellectual elite of Toruń was created over centuries as well by such celebrities as Heinrich Stroband (1548-1609), a bibliophile, humanist, art patron, and at the same time the mayor of the city and founder of the Toruń Academic Gymnasium known for its high level of education and popularization of progressive ideas, Jakub Kazimierz Rubinkowski (1668-1749), a nobleman coming from the Kingdom of Poland, popular literary man and at the same time a city councilor or Samuel Bogumil Linde (1771-1847), a descendant of a German-Swedish family residing in Toruń, deserving recognition for his service in establishing the University of Warsaw, and first of all the author of an outstanding work, which is the Polish Language Dictionary, today's patron of the Award of Partner Cities founded in 1996 by the authorities of Toruń and Göttingen, Germany.

Heinrich Stroband As early as 1568, thanks to the idea of mayor Heinrich Stroband, a Grammar School was established in the city, which 26 years later was raised to the rank of an Academic Gymnasium. However, the residents of Toruń dreamed about their own university. This idea was conceived in the 16th century, however, due to vicissitudinous life, this dream had come true only after five centuries.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
University of Toruń
Despite the fact that 500 years seems a very long time, the history rewards for this patience. The founded in 1945 Nicolaus Copernicus University has become not only a successor of these centuries-old desires, but the Toruń Alma Mater also inherited rich traditions of such outstanding schools as Stefan Batory University of Vilnius, Jan Casimir University of Lviv, Jagellonian University of Krakow, University of Warsaw, and University of Poznań. Remarkable professors of these school such as the University's first rector Ludwik Kolankowski, an exceptional historian, Władysław Dziewulski, an astronomer, who "moved" the astronomical observatory of Vilnius to Torun, Tadeusz Czeżowski, a logician and philosopher, representative of the famous school of Lviv and Warsaw as well as Konrad Górski, a historian and theoretician of literature - the beloved master of several generations of Toruń students of Polish studies - made the young Alma Mater of Torun since its very beginnings have a group of leading scholars. That's why this "gifted child" had quickly metamorphosed into a multi-talented "youngster".

Let's compare some data: when in May 1946, the then rector of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, Prof. Ludwik Kolankowski solemnly inaugurated operations of the Alma Mater of Toruń, the school had four faculties: the Humanities, Mathematics-Natural Sciences, Law-Economics and Fine Arts; it engaged 60 independent scientific employees and educated 1,600 students. Today, the University of Toruń is the biggest academic school in the north of Poland featuring 2246 academic teachers, including 630 professors, 16 faculties, 70 majors, and 35,000 students who are educated in 100 specializations.
The Nicolaus Copernicus University cooperates with dozens schools, participates in execution of international projects just to mention COST, COPERNICUS, ClPACT, PECO, PHARE-TESSA, TEMPUS. Thanks to agreements signed with the European Committee within the SOCRATES/ERASMUS program, every year a group of students and scholars travels to western universities. Academic teachers participate every year in nearly 1,000 training programs, conferences, symposia and research abroad, whereas the school itself hosts over 600 scientists from all over the world. Every year the scholars of Toruń take advantage of over 190 grants of the Scientific Research Committee, participate in research projects (among others in Spitsbergen, Antarctica and Island), organize about 100 conferences and scientific conventions of national and international range.
The scientific capabilities of the Toruń University include also such institutions as the University Center of Nonlinear Research, the Interdisciplinary Group of Early Detection Methods of New Growth Tumors and the Interdisciplinary Group of Environmental Protection and Management.

The local Faculty of Fine Arts, the work of which is named the Toruń school of preservation is a successor of the best traditions of artistic education and the art of preservation of cultural properties, implemented in the University by Prof. Bronisław Jamontt, a painter and graphic artist, co-founder of the Plastic Artists Society of Vilnius. Professors Marian Arszyński and Jan Tajchman compiled documentation, thanks to which Toruń won the designation of World Heritage Sites from UNESCO.
As befits the home city of the greatest astronomer, the Nicolaus Copernicus University is Poland's leading scientific centre conducting astronomical observations and research. Foundation of the Astronomical Observatory in Piwnice near Toruń, later renamed the University's Astronomical Centre, is an accomplishment of Prof. Wilhelmina Iwanowska (1905-1999), a graduate of the Stefan Batory University of Vilnius, an assistant of Prof. Władysław Dziewulski, with whom she arrived at Toruń in 1945 in order to establish the Nicolaus Copernicus University. It's just in Toruń, where Prof. W. Iwanowska made her most important discoveries in the field of spectroscopy, was a longtime director of the Toruń Astronomical Observatory and an advocate of radioastronomy. Her international scientific prestige contributed to furnishing of the University Astronomical Centre into Europe's third biggest, 32-metre radiotelescope. Professor Wilhelmina Iwanowska, a noble human being, a gifted scientist was awarded with the Honorary Citizenship of Toruń.
The successors of the works of Prof. W. Iwanowska include among others Prof. Aleksander Wolszczan, a graduate of the Alma Mater of Toruń, a discoverer of the first non-solar planetary system, who since 1997 had lead the Astronomical Centre of the Nicolaus Copernicus University. For many years Prof. Wolszczan has been connected with astronomical centres in the USA; he works as professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the State University of Pennsylvania. He discovered the first planetary system beyond the Solar System by means of a 300-m radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The astronomers' environment regarded this as the biggest discovery done by a Polish astronomer since Copernicus' times.

The University Library is a priceless treasury of the Toruń school with its collection containing over two million volumes, including nearly 440,000 old prints, historical manuscripts, cartographic works as well as such bibliophilic rarities as Ptolemy's "Geography" dating from 1508.

It's hard to overestimate the role of the Alma Mater of Toruń in the scientific and cultural landscape of the city. One has to agree that this respected school bestows a unique intellectual climate upon Torun.

This climate is influenced also by other higher schools in Toruń.
Invest in Toruń

Are you considering investments in Toruń? Contact the Department of Investor's Service (DIS) operating at the City Office. They will help every person and institution to make planned investments smoothly.

• Department of Investor's Service
Toruń, Wały Sikorskiego 8 St.
phone: +48 56 611 86 99
fax: +48 56 611 86 54
e-mail: boi@um.torun.pl
www.torun.eboi.eu
Toruń is an investor-friendly city. This opinion is confirmed by the title of Community Fair Play 2008 which the city was granted during the 7th edition of the competition organized by Institute of Private Enterprise and Democracy. Furthermore, Toruń obtained a certificate and promotional emblem "Community Fair Play" Certified Investment Location. In addition, Toruń City Community certified in 2008 a prestigious and recognizable nationwide promotional emblem "Teraz Polska" ("Now Poland").
Thanks to numerous communal investments, economic enterprises and international contacts, Toruń is currently a modern and an important urban centre in region, belongs to the most dynamically developing Polish cities in economic and tourist terms.
The Department of Investor's Service - was established in order to enable investors to settle required formalities connected with their main aim, which is investing. Before that, in order to settle their matters investors had to apply to many departments i.e. the Department of Architecture and Building Industry, the Department of Environment, the Department of Real Estate Management, the Department of Public Utilities, the Department of Geodesy and Cartography, the Road City Administration, and the City Planning Office. Now the DIS coordinate work in these units and look out for investors’ interests, and also keep a data bank of real estate belonging to local owners, the State Treasury, and other subjects, creating an investment map of Toruń.
The city belongs to the group of the fastest developing cities in Poland, which is supported by the continually growing number of investors who chose Toruń for the location of their business activities. In the city, there are over 25 000 economic entities, out of which over 100 companies with foreign capital. Here you can find the logistic centers of big partnerships as well as nationwide wholesale centers.

The most important advantages of the city are: favorable geographical location, high quality of job market, good technical infrastructure and, which is crucial – investment-propitious social ambience, regardless the country which the capital comes from.
            
Toruń is a city proud of its achievements, the origins of which coincide with the official date of chartering of the city, which is December 28, 1233, when Herman von Salza, the Grant Master of the Teutonic Order bestowed a foundation charter upon the city (>>).
Toruń didn't need a lot of time in order to prove that this promotion is much deserved. In a dozen or so years its so far residents as well as new settlers arriving at the newly established city from Mazovia, Kuiavia, Silesia, Westphalia, Rhineland and Flanders, made Toruń the most magnificent city in the State of the Teutonic Order. Continuous economic growth based on craftsmanship and trade as well as membership in the Hanseatic League made that at the early 15th century Toruń became one of the greatest Prussian cities with the number of residents exceeding 15,000.
At that time the fame was brought to the Toruń gingerbread cookies (cherished to this day), the recipe of which is a carefully guarded even today; foreign merchants strived for the Toruń cloth, competing with price and of no worse quality that the one from Flanders; equally popular were products of the local tailors, butchers, shoemakers, bakers...

Today, what's left after the then prospering Toruń guilds are the names of the streets in the Old Quarter, and - what's more important - the Toruń entrepreneurship passed from generation to generation, which can be ascribed to the present-day residents of the city of Copernicus. The inhabitants of Toruń, numbering already over 206,000, proved it irrefutably taking into rule the economy released from political ties of the previous system. The Toruń pace of changes can be an example for many other cities: over 98% of economic entities became privately owned by the local businessmen.
The residents of Toruń - mostly young, educated, ambitious and vigorous people - want success and know how to achieve it. Their intellectual capabilities, high professional qualifications acquired in local high schools and higher education schools decide about attractiveness of the Toruń job market.
The following organizations are involved in establishing contacts with the Toruń business circles and supporting entrepreneurship: Toruń Regional Development Agency, Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Toruń, Business Centre Club, and Toruń Council of the Scientific-Technical Associations Federation of the Chief Technical Organization NOT. Dozens of Toruń branches of the biggest banks provide financial service.
Nearly 30,000 people, which is almost half of the entire working population of Toruń, are employed in production, wholesale and retail trade as well as hotel and catering sector services.
Contacts

The Department of Investor's Service
Wały Sikorskiego 8 Street, 87-100 Toruń
phone: +48 56 611 86 99
fax: +48 56 611 86 54
e-mail: boi@um.torun.pl
www.torun.eboi.eu

The Department of Management in Real Estates
Grudziądzka 126 B Street, 87-100 Toruń
phone: +48 56 611 85 90
fax: +48 56 611 84 08
e-mail: wgn@um.torun.pl

The Department of Architecture and Building
Grudziądzka 126 B Street, 87-100 Toruń
phone: +48 56 611 84 30
fax: +48 56 611 84 33
e-mail: waib@um.torun.pl

The Department of Land Survey and Cartography
Grudziądzka 126 B Street, 87-100 Toruń
phone: +48 56 611 84 70
fax: +48 56 611 84 89
e-mail: wgik@um.torun.pl

The Urban Design Office
Grudziądzka 126 B Street, 87-100 Toruń
phone: +48 56 611 84 50
fax: +48 56 611 84 66
e-mail: mpu@um.torun.pl
www.bip.mpu-torun.pl

Torun’s Agency for Regional Development
4 Kopernika Street, 87-100 Toruń
phone: +48 56 621 05 68
fax: +48 56 622 28 99
e-mail: sekretariat@tarr.org.pl
www.tarr.org.pl

Chamber of Industry and Commerce
4 Kopernika Street, 87-100 Toruń
phone: +48 56 658 62 90
fax: +4856 658 62 99
e-mail: biuro@iph.torun.pl
www.iph.torun.pl

 
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