The Star Tenement () is a townhouse located in

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. It is distinguished by a late

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

facade, decorated at the top with a golden star, from which its name comes from. Its present shape has been influenced by numerous reconstructions and renovations.

Location

The tenement house is located in the area of the Old Town Complex, on the eastern frontage of the Old Town Square, under number 35.

History

The house was built in the second half of the 13th century. During the Gothic period it was rebuilt several times. One of the owners was the tutor of the sons of Kazimierz Jagiellończyk, poet and humanist

Filippo Buonaccorsi Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus, Callimaco, Bonacurarius, Caeculus, Geminianensis latin language, (Latin: ''Philippus Callimachus Experiens'', ''Bonacursius''; , 2 May 1437 – 1 November 1496) was an Italian Renaissance Humanism, humani ...

(1437-1496), called Kallimach. The next reconstruction was carried out in the second half of the 16th century. At that time, the building was raised to the second floor, obtaining a few-storey spatial layout, characteristic of the bourgeois tenement houses of that time, combining residential, commercial and warehousing functions. The galleries in the middle part of the floors and the polychromed ceiling in the back part of the ground floor were created. The ceiling on the first floor dates back to about 1630-40, whereas the ceiling on the second floor dates back to about 1620 (moved from the tenement house at Rynek Staromiejski 24). At the end of the 17th century, the new owner, Jan Jerzy Zöbner, an old-town councillor, gave the tenement house a baroque decor. The building received a baroque exterior with a richly decorated portal. The façade was garnished with floral and fruit motifs, made in

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

. There are winding Gdańsk-type stairs in the hallway, guarded by a

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

figure and a lion holding a shield. At the beginning of the 19th century, the first floor room was decorated with classicistic

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...

with an illusionist painted colonnade in Ionic order and pseudo-cassettes on the ceiling. Today, thanks to the conservators from Toruń, we can see a reconstruction of said polychrome. In the second half of the 19th century, during the next reconstruction of the house, the second winding staircase - this time cast in iron – replaced the chimney. Since 1970, the building houses the Museum of Art of the Far East.

Gallery

File:Torun Kamienica pod gwiazda gora.jpg, The star on top of the building File:Toruń, Dom pod Gwiazdą, (fasada) Rynek Staromiejski 35 (3) (OLA Z.).JPG, Façade File:Torun kamienica pod gwiazda salon.jpg, Sitting-room File:Torun Dom Pod Gwiazda schody.jpg, Winding staircase File:Toruń, Dom pod Gwiazdą (portal), Rynek Staromiejski 35 (1) (OLA Z.).JPG, Portal

References

{{coord missing, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Buildings and structures in Toruń Tourist attractions in Toruń Apartment buildings in Poland