The temple originates from the 15th Century. Between the 16th and 20th Centuries, it was a Lutheran church. A gothic tower was added to the hall building during the years 1591-1600, while the interior is decorated with an iconostasis – a decorative wall covered with icons – inside the Orthodox church.
During World War II, the building was almost completely destroyed. Its reconstruction took over 25 years. The interior preserved the beautiful gothic vaults in the vestry and chapel and the crystal vaults in the side recesses. After the reconstruction, the church was owned by the Jesuit Order until the year 1990.
Since 1996, the temple has been a Greek Catholic Church, which, as a temple of Byzantine and Ukrainian prayer, is under the calling of St. Bartholomew and the Protection of the Holiest Mother of Christ. It is the co-cathedral of the Wrocław-Gdańsk eparchy, which corresponds to the Catholic diocese. The Greek Orthodox Catholic Church is a religious community separated from the Orthodox Church due to the Church union concluded in Brest in 1596, in the process of which some followers inhabiting Poland recognised the authority of the Roman Pope and accepted Catholic dogmas, while preserving their own rituals. Both the interior of the church and its liturgy is rooted in the Byzantine culture. A large part of the parish’s followers are of Ukrainian descent, which makes it one of the centres of Ukrainian culture in Gdańsk.
