Chełmno Town Hall

The white town hall in the middle of a vast market square is Chełmno's calling card and one of the finest Renaissance buildings in northern Poland. On its west wall hangs an iron rod 432.5 centimetres long – the standard measure of length for the whole Teutonic Order state. Inside are the Museum of the Chełmno Land and the tourist information office.

History: from Gothic to a Renaissance parapet

The first town hall was built at the end of the 13th century as a small two-storey Gothic building with the town scales, a council chamber and a ceremonial hall upstairs. In 1567–1572 it was greatly enlarged and then held a prison, a courtroom, a shop and the scales. The tower was added in 1584–1596 and given a Baroque cupola in 1721. A final major extension, with an extra storey, followed in 1884–1887. After the war the building was restored in 1956–1959 and again in the 1970s.

Since 1983 it has housed the Museum of the Chełmno Land. Chełmno's Old Town, with an almost complete circuit of walls and six Gothic churches, was declared a Monument of History in 2005.

What to look for

• The parapet – a band of windows divided by small columns, pinnacles, little gables and scrolls with corner turrets. It gives the building its distinctive outline.
• Four portals with columns and triangular pediments; above the main one is a relief with a cartouche.
• First-floor windows placed irregularly, with ogee and triangular pediments.
• The tower with clock faces and a Baroque cupola with a double lantern.
• The Chełmno rod on the west wall – a length standard of 432.5 cm used throughout the Teutonic state.

Inside the museum

The history exhibition fills five rooms and runs from prehistory – with finds from the excavations at Kałdus and Starogród – to the Second World War. Separate sections cover the Chełmno Academy, active from 1386 to 1818, local crafts, Polish organisations and the interwar garrison. There is also a biographical display on the surgeon and general Ludwik Rydygier and a gallery of paintings by Chełmno artist Antoni Piotrowicz. Visitors can also see the courtroom with biblical wall paintings.

Did you know?

The museum has a branch in the Powder Tower in the town walls, with an ethnographic display that includes a wooden bicycle from the late 19th century. A legend tells of the restless ghost of Bernard Szumborski haunting the tower.

Tripto tip

The museum is open all year; check current hours and prices at the tourist information office in the town hall. Allow about an hour for the building and exhibitions. The parish church with the relics of St Valentine stands at the south-east corner of the square, and the Sisters of Charity convent and a walk along the walls above the Vistula escarpment make a natural continuation.