Old towns & squares

Market Square in Gniezno

The market square in Gniezno lies on Maiden Hill (Wzgórze Panieńskie), one of the seven hills of Gniezno, in the heart of the city of the first Piasts. The square owes its present look to the rebuilding after the great fire of 1819, which consumed most of Gniezno — only two buildings on the square survived, restored from scratch only in 1980.

A town burned down and laid out anew

The regulation project of 1819 designated a new spatial axis: from the cathedral to the evangelical church at today's Chrobrego Street. The level of the square was considerably lowered, removing the remains of the foundations of burnt buildings, the old moat and fragments of the defensive walls. The houses of the old town were then built throughout the 19th and 20th centuries — hence the great syncretism of styles, with decorative cornices, friezes and balconies. Particularly effective are the townhouses at Tumska Street with friezes of floral and antique motifs.

The fountain and the semicircle of coats of arms

In the centre of the square stands a fountain put into use at the end of 2014, next to which a semicircle was paved with the coats of arms of towns belonging to the Union of Polish Cities. In winter a 10–12-metre Christmas tree appears here.

In practice

The square's surface and Tumska Street are excluded from car traffic, so you can walk freely. Two churches stand in the old town — Holy Trinity and the Franciscans — and Tumska Street leads straight to the archcathedral: since 1000 the main temple of the Gniezno metropolis, called the Mother of Polish churches, the burial place of St. Adalbert and the scene of five royal coronations. Since 1994 the cathedral has borne the title of Historic Monument.