St. Nicholas Cathedral is a 13th-century Gothic church in Elbląg,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Established in circa 1247, the church became Lutheran in 1573. It was damaged by fire in the late 18th century and suffered damage during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was elevated to the status of

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

in 1992.

History

When the burghers of Elbing (Elbląg) first attempted to adopt the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

in 1525, the provost of St. Nicholas Church maintained Catholic practice. Since 1539 the city council tacitly tolerated and gradually openly promoted

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

, so that St. Nicholas Church had become a Lutheran church by 1573. Following King Sigismund III Vasa, Sigismund III's Prussian regency contract (1605) with Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg and his Prussian enfeoffment contract (Treaty of Warsaw (1611), Treaty of Warsaw, 1611) with John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, John Sigismund of Brandenburg these two rulers of Ducal Prussia guaranteed free practice of Catholic religion in prevailingly Lutheran Prussia. Based on these contracts Prince-Bishop Szymon Rudnicki (bishop), Szymon Rudnicki of Bishop of Ermland, Ermland/Warmia achieved the restitution of St. Nicholas as Roman Catholic parish church in 1612, then the only one in Elbing, and remaining a Catholic church since. St. Nicholas was damaged by fire in the late 18th century, then destroyed in World War II and reconstructed. In 1992, the building was elevated to the status of cathedral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Elblag 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Poland, Elblag Buildings and structures in Elbląg, Nicholas Roman Catholic cathedrals in Poland, Elblag Churches in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Elblag