THORN or, better, TORUN, a town of Poland, in the province of Pomorze, situated on the right bank of the Vistula, 85 m. by rail N.E. of Poznan, and 92 m. S. of Danzig. Pop. (1931), 54,280. Torun has always been an important town owing to its position between Pomerania, Poland Proper and East Prussia, and its strategical importance as a bridge head com manding the passage of the Vistula. The old town and the new town, founded in the 13th century, were united in the 15th, and both retain a number of interesting buildings dating from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, when Torun was a flourishing member of the Hanseatic League. The ruined castle of the Teutonic knights, part of the old walls, the town hall, the churches of St. John, of the Virgin and of St. James, are the most interesting edifices. There is a monument to Kopernik (Coperni cus) who was born in Torun. The old wooden bridge has been succeeded by a massive iron railway viaduct 3,30o ft. long. Torun
carries on an active trade in grain, timber and foodstuffs, and has ironworks, saw-mills and other manufactures.
Torun was founded in 1231 by the Teutonic Order, which was given land there and invited to help the Poles against the heathen. Prussians. It became a subject city of the Order and an impor tant member of the Hanseatic League, but political and com mercial interests bound it to Poland. In 1454 the city revolted against the Order and was annexed to Poland in 1466 at the Peace concluded there. Religious differences were always strong in Torun, and a riot in 1724, terminating in a brutal execution, made a great stir in Europe. The town was seized by Prussia at the Second Partition, was returned to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and again granted, in 1815, to Prussia, in which it remained till 1918.