back to the Middle Ages. The city is famous for having preserved almost intact its medieval spatial layout and many Gothic buildings, all built from brick, including monumental churches, the Town Hall and many burgher houses. Gothic architecture Toruń has the largest number of preserved Gothic houses in Poland, many with Gothic wall paintings or wood-beam ceilings from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The Cathedral of SS. John the Evangelist and John the Baptist, an aisled hall church built in the 14th century and extended in the 15th century; outstanding Gothic sculptures and paintings inside (Moses, St. Mary Magdalene, gravestone of Johann von Soest), Renaissance and Baroque epitaphs and altars (among them the epitaph of Copernicus from 1580), as well as the Tuba Dei, the largest medieval church bell in Poland and one of the largest in Europe St. Mary's church, a formerly Franciscan aisled hall built in the 14th century St. James the Greater's church (often mistakenly called St Jacob's), a basilica from the 14th century, with monumental wall paintings and Gothic stalls The Old Town Hall was inaugurated in 1274, than extended and rebuilt between 1391 and 1399, and extended again at the end of the 16th century; considered one of the most monumental town halls in Central Europe (Toruń Regional Museum or Muzeum Okręgowe in Polish) City fortifications, begun in the 13th century, extended between the 14th and 15th centuries, mostly demolished in the 19th century, but partially preserved with a few city gates and watchtowers (among them the so-called Leaning Tower) from the Vistula side. See also: Toruń Fortress A 15th-century Gothic house (now a museum) where Copernicus was reputedly born Ruins of 13th-century Teutonic Knights' castle House at the sign of the Star (, the East Asian Museum, previously Gothic, briefly owned by Filip Callimachus, then rebuilt in the 16th century and in 1697, with a richly decorated stucco façade and wooden spiral stairs. Toruń, unlike many other historic cities in Poland, escaped substantial destruction in World War II. Particularly left intact was the Old Town, all of whose important architectural monuments are originals, not reconstructions. Major renovation projects have been undertaken in recent years to improve the condition and external presentation of the Old Town. Besides the renovation of various buildings, projects such as the reconstruction of the pavement of the streets and squares (reversing them to their historical appearance), and the introduction