St. Catherine's Church, Gdańsk, Poland

St Catherine's Church is the oldest church in Gdańsk. The first record dates from 1185, when Prince Sobieslaw I built a wooden church. It was replaced with a stone church in 1227-1239. St. Catherine’s church evolved over centuries and only reached its final shape in the mid-15th century. It was a Protestant church from 1545 until 1945, after which it became a Roman Catholic church. There are several magnificent details in the church, like Anton Möller’s triptych painted in 1563-1611.

The tower was destroyed in 1945 in World War II, but rebuilt again in the following decades. Today the church hosts a Tower Clock Museum.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Joel Bean (2 years ago)
Great example of one of the few Polish Gothic brick churches in Gdańsk.

Pam Smith (2 years ago)
Attended 8 am mass here. Carmelite order of monks/priests serve the parish. Beautiful church. Small attendance of older folks. Communion served on tongue on your knees- lovely.

adrian m (Minimogul) (4 years ago)
Just a quick note to say that this church appeared to be closed at 12pm noon on a Saturday (December 2021). Not sure if this was due to Covid or construction or what, but wanted to offer a heads up for anyone making a special trip. St Bridget’s church (just around the corner…with the world’s largest amber altar) WAS open, however.

Thomas Riseng Nygaard (4 years ago)
Beautiful Church, free entrance??

Paweł (4 years ago)
The former parish, brick church of the Old Town was built in 14th century. Here Hevelius was church administrator and here is also his final resting place. You can find his tomb at the rear behind the altar along with an epitaph funded by his grandson nearly 100 years after the great man's death. Unfortunately in 2006 was great fire, which resulted in the ceiling collapsing, work to restore the church took a number of years.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright caminanteK

Historic Site of the week

Château de Foix

The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.

In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians.

St. Catherine's Church

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historic Site of the week

Château de Foix