St. Mary's Basilica (Bazylika Mariacka)- Climbing to the TOP.
After the day of Solidarity, we decided that we should see Gdansk from high up and headed to St. Mary's Basilica to climb the 408 steps to the top. According to Wikipedia: St. Mary's is a Roman Catholic church where construction began in 1379. It is the 2nd largest brick church in the world, second only to San Petronio Basilica in Bologna- which loyal readers will know I visited this past summer. In the mid- 1500s, the church was used as both for Catholic and Lutheran services. From the 16th c. to the 1940s, it was the largest Lutheran church in the world. The space inside has enough room for around 25,000 people. Yep, it's big. Very big. From the outside, the church is big but fairly unremarkable. Even the interior is not that exciting on first glance. Due to destruction during WWII (of course), the Red Army looted the many graves within and burned the church almost to the ground. After the war, the reconstruction began almost immediately. The church is a good exam...