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

adrian m (Minimogul) (10 months 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 (10 months ago)
Beautiful Church, free entrance??

Difora (15 months ago)
Paid for ticket to see the view from the tower. When we climbed to the top they closed the door saying that the weather is bad, even the weather was okay, no strong wind, just light rain. After talking with the workers they didn't seem to care, tried to play it off.

Piotr Krella (19 months ago)
Don't miss this great church when you are in Gdańsk. Por supesto una iglesia de visitar

Mirek Zabski (2 years ago)
A.D 1239. Dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria, the patron saint of scientists, ordinary people and Cyprus island. Delightful brick gothic architecture. The tower is 249 ft tall. An interesting historical site. Worth visiting. Inside you will see fantastic oil painting images by Flemish painter Isaak van den Blocke and german painter Anton Möller. There is Museum of Turret Clocks as well. St. Catherine’s church houses Johann Hewelcke tombstone, who was a great astronomer and former mayor of Gdansk. Outside the church, you will be able to enjoy the unmistakable sounds of the carillon consisting of 50 bells. I visited St. Catherine’s church in September 2015. My best recommendations to visit.

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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