St. Bridget's Church was built in the mid-1300s, initially as St. Magdalene’s Chapel, on the location of the legendary appearance of the Holiest Virgin. In 1374, the funeral procession carrying the remains of the founder of the Holiest Saviour Convent, Bridget of Sweden, which was travelling from Rome to Vadstena in Sweden, made a stop in Gda?sk. The residents of Gda?sk paid great homage to the deceased, whose sarcophagus and relics were initially laid in the Marian Church and then in the chapel of penitents, where it stayed for two weeks. This event made such a great impression on the people that it gave birth to the cult St. Bridget, maintained by the Bridgettine Convent, which settled in the city in 1386.
During the years 1396-1397, the Bridgettines built the first, single-aisle, church under the calling of St. Bridget, which was expanded until the 16th Century, when the temple was consumed by fire. The beginning of the 17th Century turned out to be very laborious to the Bridgettines, as they rebuilt the aisle of the church and provided it with Renaissance interior decoration. The final form was provided to the temple and the convent during the first half of the 18th Century.
During the war operations in 1945, the church was burned down and mostly destroyed. It was not reconstructed for a long time, and the last preserved fragments of the roof truss and one of the peaks of the south aisle burned down in 1957. The temple remained in ruins until 1970, when its reconstruction was began under the initiative of parish priest Henryk Jankowski. The renovation and furnishing work lasted until 1987, when the H. Han painting of “St. Bridget’s Apotheosis” was installed in the vestry.
Due to the activity of Lech Wa??sa’s labour union and the importance of the location to Catholics during the communist regime, St. Bridget’s Church is considered as a certain sanctuary of “Solidarity” and a monument to the difficult road to freedom, which Poland had to conquer in the 20th Century. The tragic history of post-war Poland is recalled by the sculptures from the chisels of El?bieta and Rafa? Pelpli?ski and a statue presenting the martyr’s death of priest Jerzy Popie?uszko, created by Wawrzyniec Samp.
The year 2001 saw the initiation of the work on the creation of the great amber top of the main altar in the church’s presbytery. It will reach the vault and arch over the tabernacle and the altar mensa. The area of the decoration will ultimately reach 99 m2, towering over the Amber Chamber. The monumental amber altar with a height of 11 m and a width of 6 m will be in the form of a triptych with the painting of the Mother of God of the Labour World in the central part. The church currently presents the fragments of the constructed altar and the magnificent amber monstrance created by Mariusz Drapikowski.
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The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.
Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.