The Medieval Town of Toruń is a rare example of a historical complex combining the characteristics of a riverside and a “double” town, with the urban pattern of the Old Town (1233) and the New Town (1264) preserved largely unchanged. The Old Town is a huge collection of historic buildings and craft works representing all periods, which illustrate the successive stages of the town’s economic prosperity and cultural development. The area enclosed by the defensive walls has Gothic churches, which are still the dominant features, an elegant town hall, as well as plots and quarters filled with brick houses and granaries dating back to the Gothic period. Toruń once boasted a medieval castle which was a seat of the Teutonic Order. Built from the 13th century, it was demolished in 1454 by the townspeople of Toruń following a decision of the Town Council. Its remains have survived until the present day as meaningful ruins. Criteria: (ii), (iv) Out of concern for the monuments of the Old Town of Toruń The Old Town of Toruń is one of few historic Polish towns not destroyed during the World War II. Here the largest ensemble of medieval churches, public buildings, and townhouses in northern Europe, featuring original Gothic elements and bearing priceless traces of successive historical layers was preserved. Thanks to the renovation, most of the buildings have remained in active use until the present day. Toruń is a unique city. Indeed, it was thanks to its historic, town-planning, and architectural values, to its traditions and its spirit of the place, which combined into a coherent cultural landscape, the Old and New Town of the medieval Centre were inscribed as a single property on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. The inscription was pinned on two strict criteria: the authenticity of the original fabric and the outstanding value of urban and architectural monuments which form the ensemble. At the same time, Toruń is a large, modern, expanding city and a major academic centre, which has to respond to the needs of its present-day inhabitants. The city authorities have been making continuing and ambitious efforts to ensure its dynamic but sustainable development, invariably linking it with the appreciation of Toruń’s cultural heritage, responsibility for its future and protection. In view of the value of Toruń’s monuments, and with the aim of ensuring their legal protection, the Old Town became an entry on the Register of Monuments as early as 1952. From the beginning of the 1950s, documentation, conservation, repair work, and research activities on Toruń’s historic buildings were performed by Ateliers for the Conservation of Cultural Property (PP PKZ) – a specialized, cross-disciplinary stateowned enterprise. Since 1990, many of the specialists who acquired their expertise at PP PKZ have continued and expanded their conservation activities by running their own businesses. Evidence of respect for the importance and needs of cultural heritage can be seen in the Municipal Monuments Protection Office, which has been operating within the structure of the City Hall since the early 1990s. This body is responsible for discharging the monument protection tasks falling within the remit of the City under the Protection of Monuments Act. The Office has approximately 2700 recorded architectural monuments under its care, including the 410 most precious ones which are listed in the Register of Monuments. The staff of the Monuments Protection Office are responsible for approving project documentations required for various efforts involving renovations, urban renewal, adaptive reuse, and conservation; determining the scope and nature of these works; and supervising their execution. The Office staff are also responsible for conservation and renovation projects, consulting amendments to spatial development plans; and make sure that historic public spaces are used as designated, that the spatial order is maintained, and that advertisements are appropriately incorporated. Since the adoption of a legal possibilities for granting subsidies from the city budget, the Municipal Monuments Protection Office in Toruń has been operating a system of grants. It has been providing financial support to owners of registered monuments who undertake renovation efforts, which are often complex and expensive. The provision of a stable system of municipal subsidies for conservation projects has contributed to a gradual increase in confidence among monument owners to invest in their property and to the streamlining of renovation processes. The compromises and negotiations with all the users of the protected space of the Old Town, which has remained the centre of public, administrative , economic and tourist life, and is the identifier and showcase of the more than 700-year-long history of the city, show that places where conflicting interests and divergent expectations meet can be difficult, even turbulent. Municipal Monuments Protection Officeris supported by the Toruń City Centre Office, which acts as the host of the Old Town. One of its major achievements is the adoption of a spatial policy for the streets and squares of the Old Town. Poland’s membership of the European Union opened up new opportunities for taking care of monuments. Raising external funds is a top priority for the authorities of Toruń. Thanks to successful applications for EU funds, and leading and partnering joint projects with churches, museums, and cultural institutions, the City of Toruń implements multi-task conservation projects to preserve its grandest architectural monuments and craftsmanship. The largest, award-winning project, implemented in the years 2007-2014, was “The Old Town of Torun – protection and preservation of a UNESCO cultural heritage“. The city’s attachment to its Hanseatic tradition is reflected in the now completed project named “Toruń – Hanza on the Vistula River,” under which the remains of Toruń Castle were renovated and converted, the historic surfaces on the roads along the main axis of the Old Town were restored, and the urban renewal of the recreational area of the former Dominican Church and Monastery was started. Encouraged by the effects of previous conservation projects supported by EU funds and guided by duty and enthusiasm for Toruń’s monuments, we have compiled and submitted, through the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, a new, 14-task project for the Old Town, which is a consistent continuation of the previous one. The project has been evaluated according to formal and content-related criteria and finally accepted as the beneficiary. It is impossible to describe all the efforts taken to protect the sustainability of the Old Town in such a short article. Instead, it seems important to demonstrate, using a small number of cases, that the protection, maintenance and commitment to the state of conservations, to proper visual presentation and to appropriate use of monuments in their original or new functions, securing their surroundings, ensuring the spatial order, and providing convincing promotion of monuments all add value to the standards of modern living, highlight the achievements of generations of residents, underline prestige and cultural continuity, and are a proof of belonging to European civilisation.