Prinzipalmarkt
Stand in the middle of the street and look along both sides: a continuous row of gabled houses, each with its own front, and no two gables alike. Some architects clearly borrowed ideas from their neighbours, yet every house went its own way, and that is what gives the street its rhythm. At ground level the arcades run along the east and west sides, and the facades are clad in Baumberger sandstone, the pale stone you will meet again and again in Münster. At the north end the tower of the Lambertikirche closes the view, at the south end the Stadthaus tower. The only break in the row is the Michaelisplatz, the opening through to the Domplatz.
The name simply means main market, as opposed to the Roggenmarkt and Fischmarkt that continue the same line of street. It grew as the merchants' street on the edge of the cathedral precinct from the 12th century, was built up in a closed row by around 1280, and gained its arcades at the turn of the 14th century. The name Prinzipalmarkt itself only appeared in the early 17th century. Remarkably, the division of plots and the number of houses have stayed largely the same since about 1500.
In the Second World War most of these buildings were completely destroyed, some down to their cellars and ground-floor arcades. What you see rose again on the old plots, and today the whole street is protected as an ensemble. Locals call it Münster's 'gute Stube', the city's front parlour, and in 2006 a ZDF television poll ranked it fourth among the Germans' favourite places.
Walk slowly under the arcades before moving on. The most famous house on the street is only 70 m away, about a minute: the Historisches Rathaus, flanked by the Stadtweinhaus.
