Nicolaus Copernicus Monument in Toruń

The Nicolaus Copernicus Monument in the home town of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) was erected in 1853 by a "monument committee" of the city's residents.

King Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712–1786) intended to erect a monument at Copernicus' grave in Frauenburg (Frombork), but the grave could not be located.

Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) lived in Thorn (Toruń), then in the Kingdom of Poland, for many years. In the late 18th century, Poland was partitioned and the city of Thorn passed to Prussia. From 1807 to 1813, the city was part of the Duchy of Warsaw, governed by Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. A monument to Copernicus was then planned by the Polish scientist and philosopher Stanisław Staszic, after he had heard that Napoleon had expressed surprise during a visit to Thorn in 1807 that there was no monument there to Copernicus. Polish Roman Catholic clergy likewise supported the erection of a monument. In 1809 Napoleon commissioned Bertel Thorvaldsen and on Staszic's initiative, a cornerstone was laid for a monument. However, at the time, Prussian authorities, who were still nominally in charge of the city, would not approve the full construction of the monument. The fall of Napoleon ended the existence of the Duchy of Warsaw, restoring full control of Thorn to the Prussian authorities and delaying the Thorn monument project and eventually forcing Staszic to change the venue to Warsaw, in the Russian part of Poland, where the monument designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen was completed in 1830.

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