Wroclaw Market Square is one of the largest and most fascinating urban squares in Poland, measuring an impressive 212 by 175 metres. Laid out in the middle of the thirteenth century, it has remained the city’s lively centre ever since. Sixty houses originally surrounded the square, and the same number of plots has been retained to the present day. The Rynek owes much of its current appearance to major redevelopment in the mid-nineteenth century, when more than half of the small medieval houses were demolished and replaced with larger buildings suited to the requirements of expanding capitalist trade. Unfortunately, post-war reconstruction did not always reproduce the buildings destroyed during the war with complete historical accuracy.
A walk around the entire Market Square is highly recommended. The route begins on its eastern side, at the continuation of Świdnicka Street.
On the eastern side, historically known as the Green Pipe Side, two Art Nouveau department stores dating from 1904 are particularly prominent. Numbers 31–32 contain the former Barasch Brothers Department Store, now Feniks, an architectural masterpiece designed by Georg Schneider. Equally notable is the Louis Lewy department store at numbers 39–40, designed by Leon Schlesinger. The row ends with the House Under the Golden Dog (Pod Złotym Psem), reconstructed after 1990 as the final building to be restored on the Market Square.
Continue left along the northern frontage, once known as the Sweet Market Side. Three distinctive early twentieth-century department stores at numbers 48, 49 and 50 were designed by the Schlesinger and Benedict practice. Many buildings on this side are interpretative reconstructions that preserve the character of the historic streetscape. Inside the House Under the Golden Anchor (Pod Złotą Kotwicą, no. 52), a Renaissance column has survived, while the Baroque architecture of no. 46 is a genuine historical treasure.
The north-western corner of the square is marked by two tiny altarists’ houses joined by a characteristic arched gateway. Houses of this kind once surrounded the Church of St Elizabeth and separated the churchyard from the street. After the war, the two buildings acquired the affectionate nickname Hansel and Gretel, or Jaś i Małgosia in Polish. The name is now officially recognised and gives this corner of the city particular charm.
Continue left along the western frontage, known as the Seven Electors Side. It contains numerous original Renaissance and Mannerist buildings with Gothic cores, as this part of the square largely escaped destruction during the Second World War. Many of the houses once belonged to Wroclaw’s wealthiest patrician families. The magnificent House Under the Griffins (Pod Gryfami, no. 2), with its tall Mannerist gable, is undoubtedly one of the square’s finest buildings. The equally fascinating House Under the Seven Electors (Pod Siedmioma Elektorami, no. 8) is decorated with elaborate illusionistic paintings and was extensively restored in the early 1990s.
Between numbers 9 and 11 stands a tall office building designed by Heinrich Rump and erected in 1931. Its restrained architecture and modern scale disrupt the harmonious composition of the historic square. This side also features a striking fountain in the form of a glass curtain, installed in 2000 as a contemporary accent within the historic setting.
The walk concludes on the southern frontage, traditionally known as the Golden Cup Side. Most of the buildings here are interpretative reconstructions completed between 1952 and 1960. Many had previously been Art Nouveau or modern department stores and were rebuilt behind historically styled façades. A notable surviving example of Art Nouveau is building no. 13, which now houses the tourist information centre.
A particular highlight is the monument to Count Aleksander Fredro, Poland’s most celebrated comedy writer. It originally stood in the centre of Lviv and was transferred to Wroclaw after the Second World War. Today, it occupies the location where an equestrian monument to Frederick William III once stood and symbolises the city’s complex and changing history.
