Market Square in Bolesławiec

In the Wedding Hall of Bolesławiec town hall, newlyweds stand beneath a vault that Wendel Roskopf modelled on the royal Vladislav Hall at Prague Castle. That is the best reason to look not only into the ceramic shop windows on Bolesławiec's market square but also inside the town hall. The rectangular square grew up where old trade routes crossed, including the Via Regia, and today it is the drawing room of the "City of Ceramics".

A square on the royal road

The first reliable records of Bolesławiec date from around 1194, and the town received Magdeburg rights between 1226 and 1251. Its position on the road linking western Europe with the east and on the route from Bohemia to the north shaped the town plan and its large rectangular square. The town hall was built on the axis of the royal road, with merchants' and craftsmen's houses all around. The medieval street grid has survived, although many houses were rebuilt after the war.

Roskopf's town hall

The first council seat stood here in the 14th century, and after the destruction of the Hussite wars a new brick building went up in 1432. Its present character comes from two eras. In 1524–1535 Wendel Roskopf from Görlitz led the rebuilding — the vaults and the Renaissance sgraffito on the lower part of the tower date from that time. In 1776–1781 the building received its Baroque dress and mansard roofs with dormers, and in 1893 three Renaissance portals taken from houses on the square were set into the south façade. Damaged in 1945, the town hall was restored in 1962–1966 and thoroughly renovated in 2012–2013. The weathervane on the tower carries the date 1945.

What to look out for

• The Wedding Hall with Roskopf's star vault modelled on the one in Prague.
• The Renaissance portal to the Wedding Palace, funded by mayor Paul Hanewald; for centuries these rooms served as the town tavern.
• The relief on the east wall — townswoman Rosalie Johanna von Bonin disarming Napoleon's marshal Guillaume Brune.
• No. 29/30, from the late 15th century — a Rococo angel dated 1776 adorns the house with the "Pod Złotym Aniołem" (Golden Angel) café.
• No. 28, birthplace of the traveller and naturalist Carl Ferdinand Appun, and the "Piast Gate" house at No. 7a from the late 17th century.

Wars and rebuilding

During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon Bonaparte stayed in the town six times, and on 28 April 1813 the Russian field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov died here — his house on Kutuzowa Street now belongs to the Ceramics Museum. In February 1945, during the fighting between German and Soviet troops, more than 1,400 buildings, about 60 per cent of the town, were destroyed. The square was rebuilt after the war, but some historic houses nearby were demolished.

Tripto tips

The square is open around the clock, and an hour is enough for a stroll with a close look at the town hall. Nearby you can see the Gothic Basilica of the Assumption and St Nicholas and stretches of the 14th-century walls, which run for up to about 600 m along the green belt. The biggest crowds come for the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival, held since 1994 in the second half of August, with the Parade of Clay People since 2007 — book accommodation early.