Galeria EL, Elbląg

St. Mary's Church in Elbląg - a Gothic, desacralized Protestant church in Elbląg.

The location is typical for mendicant monasteries, the temple was built on the outskirts, by the city walls. The founders were Dominicans who came from Krakow and received the foundation document in 1238 from Herman Balek, the national master of the Teutonic Order. Construction began around 1246 or 1248 and the chancel, sacristy and two annexes adjoining on the west side date from that period. The church burned down in 1504 and was rebuilt ten years later with a net vaulting of the nave. Until the middle of the 16th century it gathered Polish population, later it lost its importance in this respect. It was connected with leaving the temple by the last Dominicans in 1542 and transferring the buildings to the city council, which gave them to Evangelicals. During the Swedish War it was destroyed and rebuilt. During the Second World War Germans used it as a shelter, the church and the monastery were destroyed in 1945, the church was rebuilt after 1959. On the initiative of Gerard Kwiatkowski during the housing of the object was devoted to cultural purposes, in April 1961 the EL Gallery was opened.

The church was built on an irregular rectangular plan, with two naves, a separate chancel, a sacristy and a gallery. The body of the church has no vertical dominants, the only ornaments are triangular gables with pinnacles. On three sides there are low annexes which are the remains of the monastery courtyard. The interior is partially reconstructed, the walls with cavities and epitaphs have been left. The building and the remains of the former monastery are surrounded by a fragmentarily preserved wall, in which ogival epitaph niches are located.