Online Encyclopedia
Frombork
Frombork is a town in northern Poland, situated in the Warmia i Mazury voivodship region on the Vistula Bay with population of 2700 (in 2000). Frombork has been meticulously re-created after its destruction during World War II and is now a well-known tourist attraction.
Perhaps the most famous resident of the town was Nicolaus Copernicus, who lived in Frombork 1512–1516 and 1522–1543, died there and was buried in the cathedral. There is now a Frombork Museum of Nikolaus Copernicus, his astronomical observatory, work room, and equipment, planetarium, as well as the burial site of the astronomer at the cathedral can still be visited there today.
History
Fronbork was founded in about 1278, it has been described in documents of bishop Gerko Fleming (or Henry Fleminga). He moved the capital of diocese to this city, called the City of Our Mistress Unserer Frauen (Castrum Domine Nostre), after the invasion and destruction of the cathedral in Braunsberg, Prussia.
In 1310, the town was granted rights under Luebeck Law by the bishop Eberhard of Neisse. In the years 1329–1388 on the hill a magnificent cathedral was built. The cathedral, a real masterpiece of Gothic architecture, was named "castrum Dominae nostrae" (Home of Our Lady), in Frombork. Through the centuries the cathedral was expanded and rebuilt. On one of the columns of the central nave there is a memorial of Nicolaus Copernicus who was buried there in 1543. The late 13th century saw the construction of many other churches, including those dedicated to St. Nicolas, St George and St. Anna.
The occupations of the local inhabitants were mainly fishing in Vistula Bay and farming.
Between 1466 and 1772 Frombork was an important city of the bishopry of Warmia, part of the Polish province Royal Prussia. From 1772 until 1945 the city was a part of the German province East Prussia.
The Prussian historian Christoph Hartknoch in 1684 of Thorn featured Frombork (Frawenburg) in his histories Altes und Neues Preussen, see external link below.
A Copernicus monument built in Frombork by German Emperor Wilhelm II. It was destroyed and replaced by another one by the communist Polish authorities in the mid-1950s.
After the demise of the communist regimes Frombork became the location for a memorial rock. In 2001 archbishop Dr. Edmund Piszcz blessed the memorial. The attached plaque in German and Polish language is dedicated to remember the expulsions and the many refugees who died in this land in the World War II in early 1945.