Europe Poland
Elblag
church of the Virgin Mary

For the early history of the Dominicans in Poland, click here.

A brief history of the town.

The Hanseatic town of Elblag is found close to the Wisla Lagoon; it was established in the vicinity of the old Prussian port of Truso, at the foot of a castle built by the Teutonic Knights. The urban rights were granted to the settlement lying under the castle walls in 1246. The town rapidly developed to its convenient situation in the Wisla river basin.
Economic development of the region was so effective that the Teutonic Knights established a so-called New City of Elblag outside the old city walls.
In the 15th century two new town quarters were founded, Mlynskie and Malborskie, and a separate quarter of granaries, later called the Island of Granaries. Getting under Poland's sovereignty in 1466, Elblag was granted a right to possess its own land estates.
The characteristic feature of the present Elblag's old town urban layout is its historical street pattern: they cross each other perpendicularly. The Elblag townspeople pulled down the Teutonic Knights' castle in 1454; a spared part of it houses a museum now.

The Holy Ghost monastery complex erected in the late 13th century is the seat of the voivodship library today. Worth a visit are the former Dominican church, now an "EL" art gallery, and Saint  Nicholas' Church, the oldest building in the old town area.

Philately

View of Elblag. The former Dominican church of the Virgin  Mary
right of the cathedral.

Poland 1954, Mi 872, Sc 639.

In the old town area of Elblag , - at the right of the church
of Saint  Nicholas -. the Dominican church of the Virgin Mary from 1238.

in July 1961 as an "EL" art gallery.

Poland 1987. Postal card.

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