Toruń Cathedral

Toruń Cathedral
Toruń Cathedral
Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist
Bazylika katedralna św. Jana Chrzciciela i św. Jana Ewangelisty
	View from the left bank of Vistula
	Toruń Cathedral
	53°00′33″N 18°36′22″E / 53.009264°N 18.60613°E
Location	Toruń
Country	Poland
Language(s)	Polish
Denomination	Catholic
History
Status	Cathedral
Founded	13th century
Dedication	John the Baptist and John the Evangelist
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Style	Gothic
Completed	15th century
Administration
Diocese	Toruń
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Wiesław Śmigiel
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv
Designated	1997
Part of	Medieval Town of Toruń
Reference no.	835
UNESCO region	Europe
Historic Monument of Poland
Designated	1994-09-08
Part of	Toruń – Old and New Town
Reference no.	M.P. z 1994 r. Nr 50, poz. 422

The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist (Polish: Bazylika katedralna św. Jana Chrzciciela i św. Jana Ewangelisty), also called Toruń Cathedral, is a Gothic cathedral and minor basilica located in the Old Town of Toruń, Poland, seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toruń.

As part of the Medieval Town of Toruń it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Historic Monument of Poland.^[1]

One of three Gothic churches of the town, it is built from brick, an aisled hall with a monumental west tower. The first church from the 13th century was a small hall without aisles and with polygonal presbytery. This was replaced by aisled hall church in the first half of the 14th century, which has been rebuilt many times and extended until it reached its present form at the end of the 15th century. The interior is richly decorated and furnished. The earliest painted decorations in the presbytery date back to the 14th century and depict the Crucifixion and the Last Judgement. One of the side chapels is connected with Nicolaus Copernicus. There is a 13th-century baptismal font, supposedly used for baptizing the astronomer, 16th-century epitaph to him, and 18th-century monument. At the tower hangs Tuba Dei, the third-largest bell in Poland, cast in 1500. The heart of Polish King John I Albert was buried in the cathedral after his death in Toruń in 1501. Formerly the main parish church of the Old Town of Toruń, since 1935, it is a Minor Basilica, and since 1992 the Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toruń.