Wałbrzych Market Square

On top of a corner house on Wałbrzych's Market Square sits an anchor – in a mountain town hundreds of kilometres from the sea. It symbolises the old trading links between Wałbrzych (German: Waldenburg) and lands overseas. The town's oldest square is lined with 18th-century houses, and one of them, a former wine bar, is said to have welcomed Johann Wolfgang von Goethe himself.

History of the square

The rectangular square in the town centre hosted weekly markets for centuries. From 1731 to 1853 a Baroque town hall stood in the middle; after it was pulled down, the council moved to a new Neo-Gothic building on nearby Plac Magistracki, built in 1856–1857 to designs by the royal architect Hermann Friedrich Wäsemann of Wrocław. The square was remodelled several times: in 1905 its centre held a lawn with a monument to Emperor Frederick III flanked by fountains, and trams once ran across it.

The last major redesign in 1996 gave the square new paving, trees, benches, period-style lamps and a central fountain, and car traffic was restricted. Today it has outdoor terraces, cafés, shops and the town library, and it hosts events.

Houses worth a look

• The Anchor House (Kamienica pod Kotwicą) – a corner house from 1799 (dated MDCCXCIX on the façade), with three arcades on the ground floor and pilasters with Ionic capitals; the rooftop anchor symbolised the town's overseas trade.
• The Three Roses House from 1777 – Baroque and arcaded, named after the three stucco roses on its façades.
• The Four Atlantes House from 1791–1793 – Neoclassical, built for the town treasurer and wine merchant J.W. Röllsch. It housed the wine bar Goethe visited, and since the 1980s it has been home to the public library, today called Biblioteka pod Atlantami.
• No. 3 from 1727 – the oldest house on the square.
• Treutler House (No. 1) from 1785–1789 and the Neoclassical No. 2 from 1788.
• The former gasworks building from 1860, with a statue of a boy holding an oil lamp.

Tripto tip

The square is open around the clock, and 30–45 minutes is enough for an unhurried look at the façades. The best view of the anchor is from the fountain, and you will find the Atlantes at second-floor level on the library building. From the square, the Pasaż Okrężny passage leads to Plac Magistracki and the town hall, and from here it is worth continuing to Książ Castle.