Webcam Warsaw. Old Town Market Square
The Old Town Market Square is the true heart of the Old Town, and until the end of the 18th century it was the heart of all of Warsaw. It emerged at the end of the 13th century, the same time when the city was founded.
Here in the town hall (built before 1429, demolished in 1817) the guilds and merchants gathered, held fairs and sometimes executions. The houses around it represented the Gothic style until the great fire of 1607, after which they were rebuilt in the late Renaissance style and eventually in the late Baroque style by Tilman Hamerski in 1701.
The main attraction at the time was the huge town hall, reconstructed in 1580 in the Polish Mannerist style by Antoneo de Ralia and again between 1620-1621. The architecture of the building was similar to many other buildings of this type in Poland (for example, the town hall in Szydłowiec). It was decorated with attics and four side towers.
The clock tower, decorated with an arcaded loggia, was covered with a convex spire typical of Warsaw Mannerist architecture (e.g., the Royal Castle). The area was damaged by German Luftwaffe bombs during the invasion of Poland (1939). The old market was rebuilt in the 1950s after it was destroyed by the German army after the suppression of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Today it is one of the main attractions of the Polish capital.
