Town Hall, Toruń, Poland - SpottingHistory.com

Located in the centre of the Old City Market Square, the monumental Old City Town Hall is one of the biggest and most magnificent town halls in Europe. It is a monument to Toruń's glory as the former trade empire of Hansa. The construction began in 1274 and it was extended and rebuilt between 1391 and 1399 and extended again at the end of the 16th century.

Today Town Hall hosts the District Museum, which is one of the oldest and the greatest in Poland. Its origins date back to the year 1861 when the German Städtisches Museum in Thorn (Municipal Museum in Toruń) was established; on the other hand in 1876 Polish Science Society of Toruń founded another museum. It was only 1930 when these two were combined into one Municipal Museum. The museum exhibits were among others archaeological artefacts and the elements of old Toruń, Gothic art gallery, coins and mints etc.

References:

Visit Toruń

Palaces, manors and town halls in Poland

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Zygmunt Borowski (2 years ago)
Toruń - jest jednym z najstarszych miast Polski (prawa miejskie uzyskał w 1233 roku). Miejsce urodzenia Mikołaja Kopernika. Zespół Staromiejski Torunia jest jednym z najcenniejszych zespołów zabytkowych w Polsce. W 1997 roku został wpisany na Listę Światowego Dziedzictwa Kulturowego UNESCO. Ratusz Staromiejski w Toruniu to główna budowla świecka Starego Miasta. Gotycki budynek powstawał etapami w ciągu XIII i XIV wieku. W roku 1703 w czasie oblężenia miasta przez wojska szwedzkie doszło do poważnego pożaru i zniszczenia ratusza. W latach 1722-1737 dokonano odbudowy. Ostatnie prace renowacyjne były przeprowadzone w latach 2003-2005, wtedy przywrócono dawny "blask" wieży - Toruń - is one of the oldest Polish cities (in 1233 the town was granted municipal rights). Nicolaus Copernicus Birthplace. The Old Town Torun is one of the most valuable historical monuments in Poland. In 1997, he was listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Old Town Hall in Torun is the main secular building of the Old Town. The Gothic building was built during the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1703, during the siege of the city by the Swedish army, there was a serious fire and the destruction of the town hall. In the years 1722-1737 reconstruction was made. Recent renovations were carried out between 2003 and 2005, when the former "glow" of the tower was restored.

Emilian Kavalski (2 years ago)
a beautiful old city hall building

Olexandr Lavoryk (3 years ago)
super

Zibbi Zibbi (4 years ago)
Super

SEBASTIAN SEBASTIAN (4 years ago)
Ok

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Dan Lundberg

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Hagios Demetrios

The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios, is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. It is part of the site Palaeochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1988.

The first church on the spot was constructed in the early 4th century AD, replacing a Roman bath. A century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced the small oratory with a larger, three-aisled basilica. Repeatedly gutted by fires, the church eventually was reconstructed as a five-aisled basilica in 629–634. This was the surviving form of the church much as it is today. The most important shrine in the city, it was probably larger than the local cathedral. The historic location of the latter is now unknown.

The church had an unusual shrine called the ciborium, a hexagonal, roofed structure at one side of the nave. It was made of or covered with silver. The structure had doors and inside was a couch or bed. Unusually, it did not hold any physical relics of the saint. The ciborium seems to have been a symbolic tomb. It was rebuilt at least once.

The basilica is famous for six extant mosaic panels, dated to the period between the latest reconstruction and the inauguration of the Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730. These mosaics depict St. Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration of the church (called the founders, ktetors) and with children. An inscription below one of the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Thessalonica from a pagan Slavic raid in 615.

Thessaloniki became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1430. About 60 years later, during the reign of Bayezid II, the church was converted into a mosque, known as the Kasımiye Camii after the local Ottoman mayor, Cezeri Kasım Pasha. The symbolic tomb however was kept open for Christian veneration. Other magnificent mosaics, recorded as covering the church interior, were lost either during the four centuries when it functioned as a mosque (1493–1912) or in the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 that destroyed much of the city. It also destroyed the roof and upper walls of the church. Black-and-white photographs and good watercolour versions give an idea of the early Byzantine craftsmanship lost during the fire.

Following the Great Fire of 1917, it took decades to restore the church. Tombstones from the city"s Jewish cemetery - destroyed by the Greek and Nazi German authorities - were used as building materials in these restoration efforts in the 1940s. Archeological excavations conducted in the 1930s and 1940s revealed interesting artifacts that may be seen in a museum situated inside the church"s crypt. The excavations also uncovered the ruins of a Roman bath, where St. Demetrius was said to have been held prisoner and executed. A Roman well was also discovered. Scholars believe this is where soldiers dropped the body of St. Demetrius after his execution. After restoration, the church was reconsecrated in 1949.

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