The angel and the gate in Toruń s crest appeared for the first time in 1470 at an affixed seal. Earlier, seals with the images of St. Mary with Infant Jesus and of St. John the Baptist served as the symbols of the town. Those seals were affixed on the most important city documents and international treaties. For regular correspondence the seal with the gate crowned with three towers was used. For two centuries Toruń s New Town had a separate emblem containing a watchtower with two turrets and Teutonic shields.
After the 13 Years’ War had ended, when the Old and the New Towns of Toruń had already constituted one unit, the angel settled for good in the crest of Toruń. Holding a shield with an image of a half-open city gate, it was to symbolise God’s care of the city in times of war. With little changes, the pattern remained until the fall of the Republic of Poland. After the partitions the angel was substituted by a Prussian eagle. The angel, however, returned to the crest in periods of return of the Polish statehood, for example in the time of Warsaw Duchy.In the latter part of the 19th century in the coat of arms of Toruń there appeared an angel with a key in its right hand, who was either standing or kneeling, holding a shield with the city gate open to the left side. An example of it is the crest made in 1860 that is placed over the entrance to the Old Town Hall. During World War II there were a few versions of the crest with an angel during the Second Republic of Poland. The final one was approved in 1936. The angel was to disappear from the crest of Toruń two more times: during the Nazi occupation and during the Polish People’s Republic. It returned to its place by a decision of the City Council of Toruń in 1990.
