★ History and art · Toruń and the Chełmno LandRadzyń ChełmińskiThe ruins of one of the finest Teutonic castles, with corner towers and decorated brick walls, in a country village.
The storyThe castle was built at the end of the 13th century as the seat of a commander of the Teutonic Order, square in plan with a courtyard and four towers. For its glazed-brick decoration and the height of its walls it was considered one of the most beautiful in the Order's state. After the region passed to Poland in 1466 it began a slow decline, and in the 19th century it was partly dismantled for its bricks. Today one wing with its tower survives, and in summer there are re-enactments.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Bydgoszcz and the VistulaBydgoszczA secret Third Reich explosives factory hidden in the forest, with kilometres of tunnels and dozens of camouflaged buildings.
The storyDAG Fabrik Bromberg was built by the Germans between 1939 and 1945 in a forest on the edge of the city: more than a thousand buildings, linked by tunnels and roads and hidden under the trees so that aircraft could not spot them. Thousands of forced labourers and prisoners worked there in brutal conditions. Part of the complex is now a museum, with a route that tells the story of the production, the forced labour and the prisoners' daily life.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Kuyavia and the Piast RouteStrzelnoA 12th-century stone rotunda and a basilica with columns carved with the virtues and vices, among the finest Romanesque sculpture in Central Europe.
The storyStrzelno, on the Piast Route, has the rotunda of St Procopius, a small round granite church from the 12th century, and next to it the Holy Trinity church of the Norbertine convent. During post-war restoration, four Romanesque columns carved with figures of virtues and vices, unique in Poland, were found beneath the Baroque plaster. To see them you need to go into the church, often with a museum guide.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →