District Museum in Toruń Old Town Hall

Medals for sale at the Town Hall!

For centuries, trade and the public and political life of the city were concentrated in the Town Hall, this most famous and representative secular building in Toruń. The Town Hall was the main court centre and seat of the city council. Rulers were received here: grand masters of the Teutonic Order as well as kings of Poland, for whom the building served as a temporary residence at the time ? hence one of the rooms on the first floor is called the Royal Hall. It was here that King Jan Olbracht died (1501). Other important historical events also took place in the Town Hall: in 1454 envoys of the Polish king took the oath of allegiance from representatives of the Prussian states, and in 1645, on the initiative of King Władysław IV, a ‘fraternal conversation’ took place between Catholics and Protestants (Colloquium Charitativum). The Prussian Sejmiks and even the Polish Sejm in 1520, 1576 and 1626, as well as the Chelmno Land Courts, held their sessions here.

The present shape of the Old Town Hall is the result of the gradual evolution of the mid-market buildings.