Old towns & squares

Market Square in Tarnów

The market square of Tarnów was laid out during the town’s founding in 1330, and the townhouses around it, built from the 16th to the 19th century, make the place one of the finest Renaissance urban ensembles in Poland. Two streets leave from each corner — the model of medieval urbanism survives here in full.

A town hall with mascarons

The central part of the square is taken by the Renaissance town hall, first mentioned in 1448 as a Gothic building. It gained its present shape at the end of the 16th century under hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski. The main body is about 18 metres tall, and the northern tower 30 metres. The unplastered attic is decorated with blind windows, stone pinnacles and 14 mascarons, and the tower bears the coat of arms of the Sanguszko family, the last owners of Tarnów, plus one of the oldest weight-driven clock mechanisms in Poland. Since 1931 the town hall has housed a museum; today it is the Gallery of Old Art with the Commons Hall and a viewing terrace on the tower.

Townhouses and memory

The townhouses were first built of timber; brick ones appeared in the 15th century, and in the 16th century, under Tarnowski, they were rebuilt as arcaded merchant houses. At numbers 20 and 21 operates the District Museum. On Wałowa Street, right next to the square, stands the Józef Bem monument unveiled in 1983 — the hero of two nations born in Tarnów.

In practice

The square is accessible around the clock. It is worth combining entry to the town hall tower and gallery with a stroll through the streets of the old town.