DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25050#0203
are also connected with this place. From the tower of St Mary’s, an
ancient bugle call is played hourly by a fireman, at noon broadcast
nation-wide on the radio waves. The Tartar pony Lajkonik ends
his June frolics at the Market Square, and in December the
creches, or Nativity scenes, are displayed at the foot of the
Mickiewicz statue.
The square retains many of its magnificent monuments. The
towers of the town hall and of St Mary’s still accent the city’s
skyline. Yet the square looks different, not only from its medieval
state, but also from its appearance one-hundred-plus years ago.
The medieval town, enclosed in a circuit of walls, could not afford
to squander space. Every inch of ground had to be put to use. The
only buildings in the square now are the Cloth Hall, the town hall
tower and the small Church of St Adalbert. Unfortunately, many
other buildings disappeared: the core of the town hall, two
weighing houses, cloth-shearing shops, gold and silver melting
shops, as well as stalls and shacks which once dotted the whole
surface of the square. Within this densely built-up area, small,
specialized market places were designated, such as the salt, bread
and chicken markets. The inner part of the square was encircled by
a street called in German the Ring, from which the Polish rynek
derives. The broad expanse of the square, then, would have been
covered by a warren of narrow, noisy streets with utterly chaotic
architecture, with a few monumental buildings rising up. Much
more orderly were the buildings fronting the Ring, constructed on
strictly delineated plots. Now, the Market Square is flanked
mostly by broad-fagaded palaces, composed of two or three
houses spliced together. A typical house in the city’s late medieval
period had a narrow front elevation, but extended far back. The
houses on the Market Square and the Small Market Square had
so-called pr%edpro%a — terraces running alongside a number of
buildings, covering partly sunken cellars, and forming a sort of
pavement raised above the level of the square.
In modern times the Gothic character of the town has been
progressively effaced. The terraces disappeared under gradually
196
ancient bugle call is played hourly by a fireman, at noon broadcast
nation-wide on the radio waves. The Tartar pony Lajkonik ends
his June frolics at the Market Square, and in December the
creches, or Nativity scenes, are displayed at the foot of the
Mickiewicz statue.
The square retains many of its magnificent monuments. The
towers of the town hall and of St Mary’s still accent the city’s
skyline. Yet the square looks different, not only from its medieval
state, but also from its appearance one-hundred-plus years ago.
The medieval town, enclosed in a circuit of walls, could not afford
to squander space. Every inch of ground had to be put to use. The
only buildings in the square now are the Cloth Hall, the town hall
tower and the small Church of St Adalbert. Unfortunately, many
other buildings disappeared: the core of the town hall, two
weighing houses, cloth-shearing shops, gold and silver melting
shops, as well as stalls and shacks which once dotted the whole
surface of the square. Within this densely built-up area, small,
specialized market places were designated, such as the salt, bread
and chicken markets. The inner part of the square was encircled by
a street called in German the Ring, from which the Polish rynek
derives. The broad expanse of the square, then, would have been
covered by a warren of narrow, noisy streets with utterly chaotic
architecture, with a few monumental buildings rising up. Much
more orderly were the buildings fronting the Ring, constructed on
strictly delineated plots. Now, the Market Square is flanked
mostly by broad-fagaded palaces, composed of two or three
houses spliced together. A typical house in the city’s late medieval
period had a narrow front elevation, but extended far back. The
houses on the Market Square and the Small Market Square had
so-called pr%edpro%a — terraces running alongside a number of
buildings, covering partly sunken cellars, and forming a sort of
pavement raised above the level of the square.
In modern times the Gothic character of the town has been
progressively effaced. The terraces disappeared under gradually
196