Here you can buy, haggle, hunt for treasures and find beautiful shots for your holiday photos. Different languages can be heard all around, traditions and customs mingle. It's lively and colourful, with something happening almost everywhere. This is the world-famous St Dominic's Fair!
The tradition of St Dominic's Fair dates back to 1260, when Pope Alexander IV granted the Gdańsk Dominicans permission to give indulgences on the feast day of their founder. In one of the oldest descriptions of the fair, from the 16th century, the papal nuncio Giulio Ruggieri wrote: In the month of August, the great Fair of St Dominic takes place, drawing Germans, Frenchmen, Flemings, Englishmen, Spaniards and Portuguese, when 400 ships laden with French and Spanish wine, silk, olive oil, lemons, preserves and other Spanish produce, Portuguese spices, tin and English cloth sail into the port. Circus performers, acrobats and theatre troupes also came to the Fair from all directions. All manner of marvels and exotic animals were displayed, and even, it is said... mermaids.