If I had to pick one unmissable place in Poland, aside from Krakow, it would have to be Toruń. While people appear to have lived there for millenia, "modern" Toruń dates to the 1230s, when Duke Konrad I of Masovia invited the crusading order of the Teutonic Knights to the region to wage war on neighboring pagans. In the long run the Knights turned out to be more interested in ruling than in crusading, and eventually the locals and other Poles drove them out. But in the meantime, they erected city walls and an enormous castle, invited merchants and clergy, and otherwise organized the development of the city on the Vistula, which came to prosper as a member of the Hanseatic League. Much of the medieval city, including its spectacular churches, city walls, and many notable residences and public buildings survive, and while the city is well-touristed, most of the tourists are Poles and it is not by any means overrun. Above, the the 14th century gothic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary built by the Franciscans, viewed from the City Hall tower, Toruń, Poland.
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