St. Mary's Church

St. Mary's Church (Bazylika Mariacka) stands at ul. Podkowiańska 5 in the Main Town of Gdańsk, Poland, in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Construction began in 1343 and the building was completed in 1502, a span that traces the rise of Gdańsk as a Hanseatic trading port. The church is a hall church in the Brick Gothic style, about 105 metres long, with a vast interior that is often said to hold up to 25,000 people. Its square tower rises to roughly 78 metres and can be climbed by around 400 steps to a viewing gallery above the red roofs of the old town.

Inside, the pale whitewashed walls and net and star vaults contrast with the red brick exterior. Notable works include the astronomical clock made in the 1460s by Hans Düringer, one of the tallest wooden clocks of its kind, and the late Gothic high altar. The church formerly held Hans Memling's Last Judgment triptych, which is now displayed in the National Museum in Gdańsk. Numerous side chapels, epitaphs and carved stalls recall the patrician families of the city. The Protestant Reformation arrived in Gdańsk early in the 16th century and the church served a Lutheran congregation for generations before returning to Catholic use after 1945.

The church was heavily damaged in the final weeks of the Second World War, when the vaults partly collapsed and much of the furnishing was lost or removed. Reconstruction in the postwar decades restored the walls, vaults and tower, though the interior is simpler than before the war and many fittings were later returned or replaced. The visit is organised as a free walk through the nave, with a separate ticketed climb of the tower.