Chełmno

Chełmno
Chełmno market square
Saints James and Nicholas church
Defensive walls
Chełmno
Coordinates: 53°20′57″N 18°25′23″E / 53.34917°N 18.42306°E / 53.34917; 18.42306
Country Poland
VoivodeshipKuyavian-Pomeranian
CountyChełmno
GminaChełmno (urban gmina)
Area
 • Total
13.56 km2 (5.24 sq mi)
Elevation
75 m (246 ft)
Population
 (31 December 2021)
 • Total
18,915
 • Density1,395/km2 (3,613/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
62-660
Area code+48 56
Vehicle registrationCCH
National roads
Voivodeship roads
Websitehttps://chelmno.pl/pl/
Designated2005-04-13
Reference no.Dz. U. z 2005 r. Nr 64, poz. 568

Chełmno (Polish pronunciation: [ˈxɛu̯mnɔ] ), historically known as Culm in both German and English (Modern German: Kulm), is a town in northern Poland near the Vistula river with 18,915 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the seat of the Chełmno County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Due to its regional importance in the Middle Ages, the town gave its name to the entire area, Chełmno Land (and later an administrative unit of the Kingdom of Poland, the Chełmno Voivodeship), the local Catholic diocese and Kulm law, a municipal form of government for over 180 cities and towns in Central Europe, most notably Warsaw, Gdańsk, Toruń, Königsberg, Olsztyn, Płock and Klaipėda. It possesses a well-preserved historic Old Town, listed as a Historic Monument of Poland, with landmark Gothic churches and a Renaissance town hall. It was an important education center in the early modern period, and the place of pioneering surgical operations by renown Polish 19th-century surgeon Ludwik Rydygier.