The Copernicus House is a historic,

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

tenement house A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, which belonged to the Copernicus family in the second half of the 15th century. It is considered by many historians to be the birthplace of

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

, and it houses a museum dedicated to the astronomer.

Location

The tenement house is located in the southern part of the Old Town Complex, at 15/17 Kopernika Street, in the vicinity of the house which was once considered the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus. Today it houses the Hotel Gotyk.

History

The tenement house dates back to 1370 and is what was called a granary house, which in the Middle Ages performed both residential and storage functions. At the end of the 14th century, the cloth merchant Herbord Platte became the owner of the house. In 1459, Lucas I Watzenrode, Nicolaus Copernicus' grandfather, took over the house from his nephew, Szymon Falbrecht, and soon gave it to his daughter Barbara Watzenrode and her spouse, Nicolaus Copernicus senior. Many historians point to this building as the place where Nicolaus Copernicus was born in 1473. In 1480 the Copernicus family sold the building to Georg Polnische. In the nineteenth century, the building was adapted for rental apartments. At that time, its interiors were rebuilt and the facade was plastered. In 1929 the house was entered in the register of monuments for the first time. It was put on this list again in 1970. The tenement house was renovated between 1972 and 1973. During the works, its former spatial layout was restored, reconstructing, among others, a tall vestibule with a kitchen corner, a staircase and a wooden suspended room (ground floor). Renovation also included the building's façade decorated with a sharp-edged portal, brick friezes and vertical recesses decorated with traceries. Since 1973 the building houses the Nicolaus Copernicus Museum.

Interesting facts

* Copernicus Street used to be called St. Anna Street. * On June 1, 1971, the

Polish Post The Polish Post (, ) is the state Mail, postal administration of Poland, initially founded in 1558. The company is headquartered in Warsaw and employs over 67,000 people. It is the largest mail-handling company in the country, which additionally ...

issued a postage stamp depicting the Copernicus House in Toruń with the face value of 40 gr, in the series "Na szlaku Kopernika" (on Copernicus' trail). Offset printing on chalk paper.

Andrzej Heidrich Andrzej Ryszard Heidrich (November 6, 1928 – October 20, 2019) was a Polish Graphic arts, graphic artist and type designer who designed Polish bank notes. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated with Honors student, honors. He des ...

was the designer of the stamp. It remained in circulation until December 31, 1994.

Gallery

Interior of the building before renovation: File:603104 Toruń Dom M. Kopernika i wnętrza 05.JPG File:603104 Toruń Dom M. Kopernika i wnętrza 10.JPG File:603104 Toruń Dom M. Kopernika i wnętrza 04.JPG File:603104 Toruń Dom M. Kopernika i wnętrza 03.JPG

References

{{Authority control History of Toruń Birthplaces of individual people Nicolaus Copernicus 14th-century architecture in Poland 14th-century establishments in Poland Buildings and structures completed in 1370 Biographical museums in Poland Historic house museums in Poland Museums established in 1973 Gothic architecture in Toruń Museums in Toruń