Nowy Targ Market Square

Nowy Targ Market Square is a 138 × 110 m rectangle – about 1.5 ha – a square built to suit a town founded for trade. It was laid out in 1346, when the town received its charter, and at its centre stands a 19th-century town hall with a clock tower that houses the Podhale Museum. It is the natural starting point for a walk around the capital of the Podhale region.

History: a town of fairs

Nowy Targ was founded as a trading town, which is why its market square is so large. At first a fair was held here once a year, and successive rulers added more – by 1920 there were 26. Five years later Mayor Józef Rajski decided the fair would be held weekly; it later moved off the square and today takes place at a market ground by the Dunajec. Until the end of the 18th century the buildings were wooden. After a great fire in 1784 the Sącz starost laid out a new street grid, and the square was enlarged. Eight streets lead into it, two from each corner.

Town hall and chapel

The masonry town hall was built in the second half of the 19th century under the supervision of Karol Rybiński from Kraków. Its predecessor was wooden, shingle-roofed and surrounded by arcades, and also housed a jail; its foundations were uncovered during the revitalisation in 2012. In the western part of the square stands the chapel of St John of Kanty, put up after the fire of 1784. The present painted sculpture of Pińczów limestone dates from 1904 and shows the legend of the professor who miraculously mended a jug broken by a girl from Łobzów.

Did you know?

From 1950 to 2012 the square was home to a monument to the writer Władysław Orkan. When the Germans ordered its destruction during the war, the people of Nowy Targ smashed only the plinth and buried the statue on the grounds of the town power station. It was dug up ten years later, and in 2012 it returned to its pre-war spot on Słowacki Square. The best-preserved 19th-century townhouses stand on the north side, including No. 9, the Herz family house with rusticated pilasters.

Tripto tips

The square itself is open around the clock. The Czesław Pajerski Podhale Museum (Rynek 1) is open 8:00–16:00: Monday to Saturday during the school year, and Tuesday to Saturday in January, February, July and August. A standard ticket costs PLN 10, reduced PLN 7, family (2+3) PLN 40. Allow about an hour and a half for the square and the museum. In summer there are café gardens on the square, and since 2012 its centre has been free of parking.