The beginnings of the church of St Bridgets in Gdańsk date back to the 14th century. From the very beginning it was a Catholic church. In 1840, a parish was established there. During the fighting in March 1945, the church suffered only minor damage, but a few days after the end of the fighting, it was set on fire by Soviet soldiers, and the rectory was also destroyed. In 1957, local diocesan institutions decided to rebuild the church. In accordance with the regulations in force at that time, the episcopal curia applied to the state authorities for an appropriate permit, which was rejected. So a several-year fight began for ownership of the church and its reconstruction. The church side was represented by Bishop Edmund Nowicki and vicar general Bernard Polzin, and the state authorities were represented by local administration officials, although the actual decisions were made by activists of the communist party. According to the authorities, the parish of St Brygida ceased to exist in 1945, and the church building became state property, so the state administration was to be responsible for its reconstruction, and in the future it was to serve secular purposes. The church argued that the parish still existed because it had not been dissolved by anyone, so the church remained the property of the Diocese of Gdańsk. Bishop Nowicki appealed several times to central state offices, while the church building was increasingly deteriorating. Finally, in the early 1970s, the state authorities recognized the ownership rights of the Gdańsk diocese and issued a permit for reconstruction. The construction works were supervised by Henryk Jankowski, who later became the parish priest. Today the church of St. Bridget's Church is one of the most beautiful temples in Gdańsk.
