Old Town Market Square
You start on the square that has been the heart of Toruń for more than seven centuries. It measures 109 by 104 metres, and the great brick block in its middle is the Old Town Hall. Look at the corners: only two of them send out two streets each, while the other two open onto a single street. That irregularity is a clue to the town's history.
The square was laid out in 1251, when Toruń decided to expand. Before that, the town's centre was the plot now occupied by the cathedral, which you'll reach later on the walk. Because the Old Town grew in two phases, its market never got the neat grid of a planned medieval square; you can compare it with the far more regular New Town Market Square at the end of the route. From 1259 buildings began to rise in the middle of the square, and over many rebuildings they became today's town hall.
For centuries this was one huge marketplace, divided by goods: the south-east corner, for example, was the vegetable market. It was paved in 1741. It was also a place of punishment, with executions and a pillory, while the western frontage, known as the tournament square, hosted celebrations of every kind. Between the wars merchants lived around the square until officials began to outnumber them in the early 1930s, and the merchants even pushed through a tram line across it.
The Old Town Hall is right in front of you: 100 m, about a minute's walk to its entrance.






















