Description of the attraction
On the street of the Holy Spirit, next to the Basilica of the Virgin Mary, there is a beautiful chapel called the Royal. This temple is unique not only because it was founded by the Polish king Jan III Sobieski partly at the expense of Primate Andrzej Olszewski. The Royal Chapel is the only Baroque church built on the territory of Główne Miasta. Its construction took three years (1678-1681) and was associated with the resolution of a long-standing conflict between local Catholics and Protestants.
Before the appearance of the Royal Chapel in Gdansk, Lutherans and Catholics attended one church - the Basilica of the Holy Virgin Mary. Catholic masses were held at the main altar, and Protestant ones at the altar of St. Nicholas. But at the end of the 16th century, the situation changed: the Lutherans expelled Catholics from their church. From now on, adherents of the Catholic faith huddled in the Plebania of the Holy Mother of God, as the parish house was called in Polish, which was erected in 1517-1518 and is famous for the fact that it is decorated with the coat of arms of the Ferber family. To rectify the situation, a small chapel was built for the Catholics of the city of Gdansk, which was magnificently decorated with stucco flower garlands, the emblem of Poland, the emblem of the Pursuit and the symbol of the Sobieski royal family.
For the construction of the Royal Chapel, five houses along the street of the Holy Spirit were demolished. The project of the chapel was developed by the architect Tillmann von Gameren, and Andreas Schlüter Jr. worked on the interior.
The terrible events of the 20th century led to the partial destruction of the Royal Chapel. Church furniture and utensils were lost forever, the western wall of the church was damaged by a shell, but the chapel had to be restored. The restorers found that the most valuable paintings on the vault, dating from the 19th century, were hardly damaged. In 1948, the chapel again appeared before the townspeople in its original form.
