Milestone of the Camino de Santiago in Toruń
On Saturday (24 May), a ceremony will be held in front of the Marshal’s Office in Toruń to unveil the milestone of the Way of St James (Camino de Santiago). The meeting, which will also inaugurate the Chełmno Way of St James and award appointments to the Route Development Council, will be attended by Marshal Piotr Całbecki, Spanish Ambassador to Poland Ramiro Fernández Bachiller and Ildefonso de la Campa Montenegro, President of the European Federation of the Way of St James.
– The Way of St James is a history lesson for us all. It is worth realising that it was, after all, once one of the most important building blocks of Europe’s identity. Not only in the context of tourism, culture and business, but also spiritually – emphasises Marshal Piotr Całbecki.
The ceremony will begin with expert speeches devoted to the Camino de Santiago – its history, significance and role. Rev. Prof. Piotr Roszak will give a lecture on ‘Camino de Santiago in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship: history and present day’, and Prof. Justyna Chodkowska-Miszczuk will touch upon the topic ‘Camino for the development of tourism’. Start at 11 am.
During Saturday’s meeting, appointments to the Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship’s St James’s Route Development Council, which has been in operation since 2013, will also be handed out. The body is made up of representatives of local authorities and associations along the route. The Council aims to create a new offer for residents and visitors to Kuyavia and Pomerania and to popularise the idea of the Camino Polaco.
The focal point of the ceremony is the unveiling of a milestone, a signpost for pilgrims walking the Camino Polaco, reaching Toruń, which is important on the map of the Jacob’s Way. The Chelmno Way of St James will also be inaugurated. This section (leading from Świecie through Chełmno, Unisław, Zamek Bierzgłowski, to Toruń) was marked out by the Brotherhood of St James the Apostle in Toruń. The route coincides with marked hiking and cycling PTTK trails. It is a continuation of the Pelplin Way of St James and reaches the Sanctuary of St James in Toruń.
The day will culminate with a mass for the intention of the pilgrims, which will take place in the Sanctuary of St James in Toruń at 6 pm.
Representatives of the Polish-Spanish Chamber of Commerce, the Office of the Counsellor for Tourism at the Spanish Embassy in Warsaw, local authorities, Nicolaus Copernicus University and associations, as well as enthusiasts of the Way of St James will also participate in the celebrations.
The Camino de Santiago is a network of roads crossing the whole of Europe leading to the tomb of the apostle located in Santiago de Compostela. The Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship is crossed by 250 kilometres of the Camino Polaco route. The route leads from Brodnica, through Płonne, Szafarnia (both golubsko-dobrzyński poviat), Toruń, Inowrocław, Mogilno, to the border with the Greater Poland voivodeship. Among the routes marked out in our region are the Bydgoszcz Way of St James, the Dobrzyńsko-Kujawska Way of St James, the Nadwiślańska Way of St James and a new one – the Chełmno Way of St James, officially inaugurated during the ceremony.
On 3 October 1987, the Way of St James was declared the first European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe, and the guarantor of its certification was the European Federation of the Way of St James, founded in 2011. In 2021, the Federation’s chairman was Marshal Piotr Całbecki.
The regional government of the voivodship financially supports activities aimed at the promotion and development of the Way of St James. We regularly subsidise the marking of tourist routes, the installation and updating of information boards, the publication of guides and maps, as well as the organisation of hiking and cycling rallies and canoeing trips.
Beata Krzemińska
Spokesperson of the Marshal’s Office
23 May 2025