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St. Mary's Church (German: Marienkirche, Polish: Bazylika Mariacka) in Gdańsk is the largest brick church in the world, and one of the largest Gothic buildings in Europe. It is 105.5 m long, and the nave is 66 m wide. Inside the church is room for 25,000 people. It is an aisled hall church with a transept.
Initially the site of the church was occupied by a six-span basilica with a low turret, erected between 1343 and 1360. Parts of the pillars and lower levels of the turret are preserved from this building.
In 1379 a masonry master Henryk Ungeradin with his team started construction work on the present church. By 1447 the eastern part of the temple was finished, and the tower was raised by two floors in the years 1452-1466.
Since 1485 the works were carried over by Hans Brandt, who supervised the erection of the main nave core. The works were finally finished after 1496 under Heinrich Haetzl, who supervised the construction of the vaulting.
Until 20th century both the church interior and exterior were well preserved. The church was severely damaged in World War II, after heavy Red Army artillery barrage in January 1945. The vaulting and the interior were burnt out and torn down. The reconstruction started shortly after the war and was finished in 1956.
St. Mary's Church is a triple-aisled basilica with a triple-aisled transept. Both the transept and the main nave are of similar width and height, which is a good example of late gothical style. Certain irregularities in the form of the northern arm of the transept are remnants of the previous church situated on the very same spot.
The vaulting is a true piece of art, and was completely restored after the war. Main aisle, transept and presbytery are covered by net vaults, while the side aisles are covered by crystal vaults.
The exterior is dominated by plain brick plains and high and narrow gothical arch windows. Such construction was possible due to placing corbels and buttresses inside of the church and erecting chapels right in between them. Upper parts of the elevation are covered by a set of brick pinnacles. All corners are crowned with metal headpieces (reconstructed after 1970).
The church is decorated within with several masterpieces of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque painting.
The most notable, The Last Judgement by Flemish painter Hans Memling, is currently preserved in the National Museum of Gdańsk. Other works of art were transferred to the National Museum in Warsaw in 1945. It wasn't until 1990s when several of them were returned to the church. The most notable parts of internal decoration are:
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