ST. DOMINIC’S FAIR – IN GDANSK SINCE 1260!
Here you can buy, bargain, look for treasures and find beautiful frames for photographs! You can hear different languages, everything is mixed - traditions and customs. Bustling and colorful – almost everywhere something is happening. This is famous St. Dominic's Fair!
The tradition of St. Dominic's Fair dates back to 1260, when Pope Alexander IV allowed the Dominicans of Gdansk to grant 100 days later indulgences on the their founder’s feast day. The papal nuncio Giulio Ruggieri in one of the oldest descriptions of the fair from the sixteenth century wrote: In the month of August there is a great Fair of St. Dominic, where gather the Germans, French, Flemings, English, Spaniards, and Portuguese, and then 400 ships with French and Spanish wine, silk, oil, lemons, jams, and other Spanish produce, Portuguese roots, tin, and English cloth come to port. Circus performers, acrobats and acting troupes came to Gdansk from everywhere. There were all sorts of wonders, exotic animals, and even apparently... mermaids.
The tradition of St. Dominic's Fair dates back to 1260, when Pope Alexander IV allowed the Dominicans of Gdansk to grant 100 days later indulgences on the their founder’s feast day. The papal nuncio Giulio Ruggieri in one of the oldest descriptions of the fair from the sixteenth century wrote: In the month of August there is a great Fair of St. Dominic, where gather the Germans, French, Flemings, English, Spaniards, and Portuguese, and then 400 ships with French and Spanish wine, silk, oil, lemons, jams, and other Spanish produce, Portuguese roots, tin, and English cloth come to port. Circus performers, acrobats and acting troupes came to Gdansk from everywhere. There were all sorts of wonders, exotic animals, and even apparently... mermaids.
