A port town, earlier a royal town. It belonged to the Hanseatic league of towns - a union of trade towns of Europe. The oldest part: The Main and Old Towns were 80 % destroyed towards the end of World War II. St. Mary's church seen in the centre of the photo is the largest Gothic brick church in Europe. Gdańsk is the site and symbol of the outbreak of World War II, the birth of Solidarity and the fall of communism in Central Europe.