Frombork

Frombork (in German Frauenburg) is a town since 1945 in northern Poland, situated in the Warminsko-Mazurskie region on the Vistula Bay[?]. Its population in the year 2000 was 2700. Frombork has been meticulously re-created after destruction in World War II and is now a well-known tourist attraction.

History

Founded at the location of an old Prussian settlement near the Baltic Sea as Frauenburg, the city was originally part of the Braunsberg district of the diocese of Ermeland, or Warmia, the Latin name and that used today by Polish-speakers for the area. The episcopal seat was moved from Braunsberg to Frauenburg in 1242. 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 cathedrali, a real masterpiece of Gothic architecture, was named "castrum Dominae nostrae" (Home of Our Lady) in German - Frauenburg. Through 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 and farming.

Perhaps the most famous resident of the town was Nicolaus Copernicus, who lived in Frauenburg 1512-1516 and 1522-1543, died there and was buried in the cathedral.

The Copernicus monument in Frauenburg, built by German Emperor Wilhelm II, was destroyed by Polish authorities in the mid-1950s, after the city became part of Polish territory in the aftermath of World War II. However, his astronomical observatory, work room, and equipment, as well as the burial site of the astronomer at the cathedral can still be visited there today (2002).