Oliwa Cathedral

The Cistercian church at Oliwa is a hundred and seven metres long and only about nineteen wide, which gives it a strange telescoping perspective from the west door, and its facade is a narrow baroque front squeezed between two thin brick towers. The organ is why most people come: built between 1763 and 1788 by Johann Wilhelm Wulf, a Cistercian brother, with around seven and a half thousand pipes and a case covered in carved figures - angels with trumpets, suns and stars - a number of which move mechanically when certain stops are drawn. Short demonstration recitals run through the day in season and full concerts in summer. The abbey was founded in 1186, dissolved in 1831, and the church became a cathedral in 1925. Around it lies the Oliwa park, a formal French garden running into an English landscape section against the wooded moraine hills, with a palm house and free entry.

What you actually see

• A 107-metre nave - very long and narrow, telescoping from the west door.
• The Wulf organ - about 7,500 pipes, finished in 1788.
• Moving carved figures - angels, suns and stars that turn as it plays.
• Oliwa park - French formal garden running into English landscape.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Demonstration recitals run to a timetable and the church is closed to sightseeing during services and weddings. Summer recitals are crowded. The park is free but the palm house is ticketed.

Nearby

Sopot is north; Gdansk old town is south along the tram line.