Kruszwica - Kolegiata śś. Piotra i Pawła

Kruszwica has a long even prehistoric history. The existing town was set back in its development when in 1096 it gave refuge to Władysław I's son Zbigniew when he rebelled against his father, for Władysław I subsequently had the place burned down.

In 1133 the name "Cruciuis" is found. In 1149 a meeting with Margrave Albrecht the Bear, Bavarian Otto I ("The Redhead"), and other princes took place here. In 1157 Emperor Barbarossa led an army to Kruszwica, where the Duke of Poland gave him a testimony of submission.

At the end of the 12th century, Kruszwica Castle was the seat of the castellan who founded the monastery of St. Peter and Paul. In 1230 Konrad of Mazovia gave the neighboring Kulmerland to the Teutonic Order.

From 1350 to 1355 King Kazimir the Great built the castle as the seat of the castellan because since the middle of the 13th century a toll had been collected at the Kruszwica Bridge.

The Swedish raids in the Second Northern War in 1655 and 1657 ("Swedish Deluge"), plunged Kruszwica into ruin. The castle was completely burned down together with the town.

Since 1772 Kruszwica belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia and was called Kruschwitz in German. Around 1783 there were only eleven houses in the once important town, in which 74 people lived. The town experienced a revival due to the industrialization of the 19th century.

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The Collegiate Basilica of St. Peter and Pau is a three-nave basilica with a transept.

The church was built from 1120 on. It was consecrated in 1140, and until 1148 it is said to have been the episcopal see of Kujawy. The low two-tower facade was rebuilt in the 16th century in favor of a higher central tower. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Baroque alterations were made to a total of 13 altars. After the visit of Frederick William IV in 1836, a neo-Gothic remodeling was carried out in 1854-1857 as part of the renovation.

The many remodelings of the church were removed after independence in 1918 and then in the 1950s in favor of the original Romanesque style.