Market square

Market Square in Bielsko-Biała, Poland

Market Square in Dortmund, Westphalia, Germany

Main Market Square, Kraków, Poland

Market square in Derbyshire, England

For specific places, see Market Square (disambiguation).

The market square (or sometimes, the market place) is a feature of many European and colonial towns.^[1] It is an open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading, commonly on one particular day of the week known as market day.

A typical English market square consists of a square or rectangular area, or sometimes just a widening of the main street. It is usually situated in the centre of the town, surrounded by major buildings such as the parish church, town hall, important shops and hotels, and the post office, together with smaller shops and business premises. There is sometimes a permanent covered market building (the cloth hall), and the entire area is a traditional meeting place for local people as well as a centre for trade.

The largest Market Square in Europe is the Main Market Square in Kraków, Poland, a major centre of international trade during its golden age in the 15th century.^[2] Incidentally, the longest such square is also located in Poland, in the town of Pułtusk.^[3]

See also

Town square Marketplace Piazza Plaza Plateia

List of city squares List of city squares by size Market house Street market

References

1. ^ The World's Best Squares, PPS website, Making Places, December 2005
2. ^ Main Market Square in Krakow, at Room With a View, Krakow
3. ^ (Polish) Nasze Miasto - Pułtusk (History of Pułtusk), Pułtusk Academy of Humanities (Akademia Humanistyczna im. Aleksandra Gieysztora in Pułtusk)

Media related to Urban squares at Wikimedia Commons