St Nicholas' Church

Gdańsk


Erected by the Dominican order on its arrival from Kraków in 1227, this is one of Gdańsk’s oldest places of Christian worship and it feels that way inside. Amazingly, it was the only central church to escape damage in WWII – according to one story, the Soviet troops deliberately avoided shelling it, due to the high regard for St Nicholas in the Orthodox tradition.

St Nick's closed in late 2018 when it was found the building was in danger of collapsing.

Unlike most of the other Gothic churches in the city, the musty interior of St Nick’s is very richly decorated with black-and-gold baroque altars and ornately carved, winged pews lining the nave. The magnificent Late Renaissance high altar of 1647 first catches the eye, followed by the imposing baroque organ made a century later.


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