Architecture sights in Gdańsk
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Oliwa Cathedral
An important and unusual example of ecclesiastical architecture, the Cathedral's first surprise is its façade, a striking composition of two slim octagonal Gothic towers with a central Baroque portion squeezed between them. You enter the church by going downstairs, for its floor is more than a metre below the external ground level. The interior looks extraordinarily long, mainly because of the unusual proportions of the building - the nave and chancel together are 90m long but only 8.3m wide.
At the far end of this 'tunnel' is a Baroque high altar (1688), while the previous oak-carved Renaissance altar (from 1606) is now in the left-hand transept. Opposite, in the right …
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B
St Nicholas' Church
The main attraction of the northern part of Main Town is St Nicholas' Church, one of the oldest in town. It was built by the Dominican order on its arrival from Kraków in 1227, but only reached its final shape at the end of the 15th century. Amazingly, it was the only central church to escape damage in WWII - according to one story the attacking Russian soldiers deliberately avoided shelling it, due to Orthodox believers' high regard for St Nicholas.
Unlike most of the other Gothic churches in the city, the interior of St Nick's is very richly decorated. The magnificent late-Renaissance high altar of 1647 first catches the eye, followed by the imposing Baroque organ made…
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C
ul Mariacka
The tiny ul Grząska will take you to ul Mariacka, the most atmospheric of all the streets in Gdańsk and unique in Poland. It was reconstructed after the war, almost from the ground up, with the utmost piety on the basis of old documents and illustrations, and every detail found in the rubble was incorporated. It looks amazingly authentic. It's the only street with a complete row of terraces, which gives it enormous charm, and is a trendy place lined with shops selling amber jewellery.
You'll also find some of the best stalls here during the Dominican Fair.
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D
Church of the Holy Trinity
Formerly belonging to the Franciscan monastery, the Church of the Holy Trinity was built at the end of the 15th century, when the Gothic style had already reached its late decorative stage. After St Mary's Church it's the largest in town, with a spacious and lofty whitewashed interior topped with a superb, netlike vault. Note the high altar's assembly of panels from triptychs of different origins, the old tombstones paving the floor, and the spidery Baroque chandeliers from the mid-17th century.
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