Pelplin Cathedral

Pelplin is a town of eight thousand with one of the largest brick churches in Poland in the middle of it: the Cistercian abbey church begun in the thirteenth century and finished in the fifteenth, eighty-four metres long with vaults over twenty-five metres high, and an interior that kept its furnishing - a high altar of the 1620s that is among the tallest in Europe, carved stalls, and a large body of Gothic and baroque work in place. It became a cathedral in 1824. The diocesan museum next door holds the reason many people come: a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, one of about four dozen surviving, and the only one in Poland, with an ink smudge on one page from a dropped type that scholars have used to study the printing. The abbey buildings, cloister and gardens surround the church.

History

Duke Sambor II of Pomerania founded the abbey in 1258 as a daughter of the Cistercian house at Doberan, first at Pogódki near Kościerzyna, and it moved to Pelplin in 1276. The abbey was dissolved by Prussian decree on 5 March 1823, and since 1824 the church has been a cathedral, first of the Diocese of Chełmno and now of the Diocese of Pelplin (Wikipedia, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Pelplin).

What to look for

• An 84-metre brick church - vaults over twenty-five metres, in a small town.
• A 1620s high altar - among the tallest in Europe, with the original stalls.
• The Gutenberg Bible - the only copy in Poland, in the diocesan museum.
• Cloister and gardens - the surviving abbey ranges around the church.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Things to know

The Bible is displayed under strict conditions and not always at an open page. The museum keeps limited hours and closes on Mondays. The church shuts during services. The town has few facilities.

Nearby

Gniew is south; Tczew and the Vistula bridges are north.

Key facts