St. John's Church is the oldest preserved sacred building in Chojnice. The construction of the temple was started in the 14th century, in the place of the old wooden church. The hall church with three aisles, a separate presbytery and tower presents the Pomeranian Gothic style. It was destroyed many times by fires associated with wars, devastated, robbed and persistently reconstructed. During the the Reformation, the church was occupied by Lutherans. After it was recovered and three chapels were added. The latter is the only one preserved to this day. It is the home of the replica of the Beautiful Madonna from the Church of St. Johns in Toruń. Unfortunately, the church failed to preserve its original interior. One of the few surviving elements is the Baroque baptism font in the shape of a goblet from the beginning of the 18th Century. It is made of wood and its lid is decorated with the sculpture of Christ and St. John. The neo-Gothic wooden main altar, which was rescued from a fire, was replaced with a silver altar presenting scenes from the Gospel.
The most recent archaeological work in the church’s crypt revealed several burials from medieval times. One of them can be seen through the glass floor. This was the location of the burial of the great Gdańsk painter, Herman Han, who lived in Chojnice during the final years of his life. His most famous works include the Coronation of the Holiest Virgin Mary, the Holy Trinity and the Assumption of the Holiest Virgin Mary and the Concert of the Angels.
References:House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is a building situated in the old town of Riga. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. Major works were done in the years 1580 and 1886, adding most of the ornaments.
The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999. Today the House of Blackheads serves as a museum and sometimes concert hall.