Gallery

Danzig’s Marienkirche is Flemish-Gothic in architecture

Danzig’s Marienkirche is Flemish-Gothic in architecture, influenced by its prototype in LUbeck. In civil and military architecture, the independent municipalities within the old Hanseatic League developed brick construction in magnificent and often highly original ways. By far the most important church of the late Middle Ages was in the territory of the Teutonic Knights; it was the Marienkirche in Danzig, which was transformed into a hail church (hallenkirche) in 1482 - 1502. The hall church was the Germans’ most notable contribution to Gothic architecture. This incorporated a nave and side aisles of equal height, different from Lübeck’s nave height of 125 feet while the side aisles were only half as high.

The plan at the right is scaled at 105 feet to the inch. Use the 1965 photograph at the bottom of the page for reference to its architectural features. Note that only one of the nine original spires survived the war’s destruction.

The photo at the right shows vaulted ceiling at the choir end of the building, after its post-war restoration. Three large Gothic windows dominate the end of the church, and about half of the stained glass was restored after the war, as was the main roof and bell tower.

 

Danzig Report  Nr. 33 - October - November - December - 1981, Page 2.