Żywiec Market Square

Żywiec's market square was probably laid out in the first half of the 15th century, when the people of flood-prone Old Żywiec moved to the foot of Grojec hill. The regular, four-sided square has survived fires, floods and wars, and today, after its revamp, it is a car-free showpiece of the town. Around it stand 23 listed buildings, a 19th-century town hall and a stone bell tower, and the Habsburgs' castle park begins just a few steps away.

History: fairs, fires and emperors

Around 1500 Żywiec lay at a crossroads of trade routes to Orava, Moravia, Bielsko and Kraków. King Sigismund the Old granted the first two fairs here in 1518, and over time some 12 fairs a year were held on the square. The first documented stone houses were the Kantorowska and Rymarzowska houses from around 1600.

A fire in 1721 destroyed much of the square together with the wooden bell tower, which was rebuilt in stone. In 1782 Emperor Joseph II stayed overnight in the Mikuszewski house on the square, and in 1813 a flood was so violent that people crossed the square by boat. After a great fire in 1857 the square was rebuilt with brick town houses, and in 1868 the town council moved into its new town hall.

What to see

• The town hall – its foundation stone was laid on 23 June 1868.
• The bell tower – Baroque and built of stone after the 1721 fire, at the end of Kościuszki Street.
• The town houses around the square – mostly from the second half of the 19th century, some of them listed.
• The Co-Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary right next door – a 15th-century church restored in Baroque style after a fire in 1711.

Did you know?

Żywiec, now home to nearly 30,000 people, held the record for the lowest temperature measured in Poland until 1940: −40.6°C in 1929. During a renovation in 1967 the square's surface was lowered by about 40 cm. On 22 May 1995 Pope John Paul II met local people on the square.

Tripto tips

The square is the starting point of two town walking routes: the Architectural Monuments Trail (about 5 km) past the bell tower and the co-cathedral, and the Town Owners' Trail (about 12 km) through the castle park up Grojec hill (612 m) and on to the brewery founded in 1856 by Archduke Albrecht Friedrich Habsburg. An hour is enough for the square itself and a coffee at one of the terraces. In December the square hosts a Christmas market.