Oliwa Cathedral

Oliwa Cathedral tickets: which one to buy

Oliwa Cathedral stands in the Oliwa district of Gdańsk, Poland, about ten kilometres north-west of the historic centre, next to the beautiful Oliwa Park, and entry is free outside services. It is famous for its enormous rococo organ, and organ concerts, lasting about twenty minutes, are held several times a day in summer and less often in winter; they are the main reason many visitors come.

Oliwa is easily reached by the SKM suburban train from Gdańsk Główny, Sopot or Gdynia, followed by a short walk, or by tram. Visitors often combine the cathedral with a walk in Oliwa Park, with its palm house and ponds, and with the nearby zoo or the seaside resort of Sopot. Tours of the Tricity, Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia, sometimes include Oliwa. The cathedral is active, and visiting pauses during masses. Organ recital times are posted at the entrance and on the cathedral's website.

Visiting Oliwa Cathedral: what to see

The cathedral was built as the church of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1186, and it was rebuilt in the fourteenth century in the Gothic style after fires, becoming one of the longest churches in Poland, about a hundred metres long. It became a cathedral in 1925. The facade has two slender towers with pointed spires. Inside, the nave has a star vault, and the church holds a baroque high altar, carved choir stalls and many side altars and tombs. Its most famous treasure is the organ, built between 1763 and 1788 by Johann Wulff, a Cistercian monk, and decorated with gilded carvings and moving angels that play trumpets and ring bells during concerts. With about eight thousand pipes, it was once one of the largest organs in Europe.

The abbey buildings nearby house a museum of ethnography and the former abbots' palace holds a modern art gallery. The cathedral's side chapels hold tombs of abbots and the Kos family, with carved effigies. The Gothic choir holds carved stalls and paintings. The main altar, from the seventeenth century, is decorated with carved figures and gold. The organ's moving figures include angels playing trumpets and stars that rotate. The cathedral's cloister holds tombstones and a small garden. The towers are visible from Oliwa Park. The Abbots' Palace nearby holds exhibitions of modern art. The park's palm house holds tropical plants, including a tall palm tree more than two hundred years old. Oliwa Park also has a whispering grotto and French-style gardens.

Oliwa Cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

The cathedral is open daily, and organ recitals are held several times a day from May to September, and on selected days in winter. Gdańsk is busy in summer, especially during the Saint Dominic's Fair in late July and August. Oliwa Park is beautiful in spring and autumn. Winter is cold, but the cathedral is peaceful. Allow about forty-five minutes for the cathedral and an organ recital, and walk through Oliwa Park afterwards. Sopot's wooden pier, the longest in Europe, is about fifteen minutes by train from Oliwa.