St. Lawrence’s Hill – Archaeology, Discoveries and Future Prospects
A two-day scientific conference devoted to archaeological research conducted at St. Lawrence’s Hill near Chełmno since the 1870s begins today (5 November) at the Old Town Hall in Toruń. The event is held under the patronage of Marshal Piotr Całbecki.
– We already know that the history of this site is rich and fascinating. The many years of work carried out by archaeologists have allowed us to look at Chełmno Land from a different, even more intriguing perspective. We plan to present this history in a new museum being established in Kałdus. I am convinced that today’s conference will shed new light on the achievements of many generations of researchers – says Marshal Piotr Całbecki.
The conference brings together researchers from Nicolaus Copernicus University, including Professor Wojciech Chudziak, who has been conducting archaeological research at St. Lawrence’s Hill for three decades.
During the event, on 5 November, an exhibition will open highlighting 150 years of archaeological research at St. Lawrence’s Hill and its significance for the cultural heritage of Poland and Europe.
The first discovery in Kałdus, reported in the local press, dates back to 1859. Researchers first arrived at St. Lawrence’s Hill in 1876. They were scholars from Gdańsk – Abraham Lissauer and Otto Helm – who, together with the district administrator of Chełmno and the landowner, carried out the first official archaeological excavations of an early medieval burial ground. Before the First World War, research at the site was conducted mainly by German scholars, while in the 1950s it was undertaken by archaeologists from the Łódź research centre. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Professor Andrzej Kola from the then Department of Archaeology at Nicolaus Copernicus University led the first systematic excavations at the site.
In 1996, a team of researchers from the Institute of Archaeology at Nicolaus Copernicus University resumed work at the site. Under the leadership of Professor Wojciech Chudziak, the team has continued its research, with only brief interruptions, to the present day. St. Lawrence’s Hill is the longest-studied and most intensively investigated archaeological complex in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region.
The regional government plans to establish an archaeological and educational centre in Kałdus.
Beata Krzemińska
Press Spokesperson for the Marshal’s Office
5 November 2026
