Chelmno in the Old Days

Przechowko is located directly across the Vistula from Chelmno, Poland.  In centuries past, Chelmno was an extremely important town even though for various reasons it declined.  The town was the seat of a very early bishopric even though the official bishop's residence and church was actually located in nearby Chelmza.  As a result, Chelmno was home to several important churches and monasteries.  The standard for the Chelmno Rod has been bolted onto the backside of the Renaissance-era city building.  And even today you certainly get the feel that the town was an important center back in the old days.  The locals like to repeat that sentiment and like to point out that there are more churches here than in Torun.

The largest church in town, the Church of the Assumption, could certainly be seen from Przechowko and I imagine the Mennonite villagers gazing at the tower as they did fieldwork.

View to the south from western-most Przechowko lot.  Note church towers in the distance.

Recently, I came across fantastic old photos that give an idea to what Chelmno looked like centuries ago.  These photos are likely from the inter-war period, before the deprivations and destructions of WWII and the communist era.  Photos Here.

This photo in particular fascinates me.

And it's interesting that we can compare it very much with a modern photo from Wikipedia.  Obviously, both photos are focused on the buildings of Chelmno, but I'm looking at the landscape in the distance to the north.

The most interesting thing to me is that we can see how the surrounding landscape has evolved over the last century.  We cannot see Przechowko from this angle, but we still get a real good idea about how Przechowko has changed.  Notice the lack of trees in the old photo.  We can see the Vistula not too distantly beyond the city walls (north).  And the view here is towards the northeast whereas Przechowko would actually be directly north from this view (this view is obviously taken from the tower of the Church of the Assumption).  (Another interesting point is that the Chelmno Rod is bolted onto the backside of the Ratusz, obviously in the new photo.  If you look carefully, you can also see it on the old photo too.)

Notice the lack of trees on the north side of the Vistula.  We read here and there about the fact that no trees - or very few trees - were present at Przechowko in centuries past.  This photo would seem to be witness to that fact.  In the modern-day photo, obviously, the whole area is absolutely filled with trees so it's hard to get a good handle on the topography of the land.  But this early-century photo really gives a feel for what our ancestors' perspective would have been.