Sightseeing in the Tricity

The Tricity is an urban area of three major Polish cities at the Baltic coast. Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia. They are adjacent to one another, in a row,  and the distance from end to end is approximately 20 km.  The population of the Tricity is over 1 million people. When I come to Poland these days, I stay in Gdansk.

I like to have friends coming to stay with me and when that happens I play a role of a tourist guide to present the town in the best possible way. I have been conscious of the fact that I may not be the best guide in the world and I want to improve.

The last week one of my Aussie friends, who was travelling through Europe, came to spend few days with me in Gdansk. I have a feeling that I have not made an impression on her of a super guide but I did improve my sightseeing program considerably this time. I had been aware of the fact that not everybody is keen on seeing all the churches a town has to offer. And Gdansk has many, many of them which are worthwhile seeing if one is big way into sacral architecture. But who is? I may be a bit, but this is not normal and I know it.

This time I planned not to overdo with churches and selected only three to visit. St Mary’s Basilica because it is so impressive and the biggest brick Gothic church in Europe. Oliwa Cathedral because it has a famous organ with moveable parts and because I love it. 

Oliwa Cathedral

St Nicolas church because of the organ concert from the cycle Closer to Bach. I was happy with the plan but it did not work. On reflection, this was actually fortunate.

We saw only one church,  the huge St Mary’s Basilica which has a room for 25,000 people. Each time I enter the church, its size makes an impression on me. I feel small and insignificant aware of a higher power to which glory the church was built.  The major construction work was carried  from 1379 to 1502, but even if the church was structurally then completed the work has not finished to this day.

                                                     

Many years ago I saw the church destroyed and empty but with each visit I find new restorations and additions of altars and historical artefacts.  The church ever changes. My favourite object there is stone Pieta from around 1410. I always go to the chapel housing the sculpture to once again admire its sad beauty. The sculpture is in a glass cabinet  and unfortunately does not photograph well.

           

There I go, started to write about a church and got carried away. Will have to continue the subject of sightseeing in the Tricity in my next posts. No more stories about churches,  I promise.