The market square (or sometimes, the market place) is a feature of many European and colonial towns. It is an open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading, commonly on one particular day of the week known as market day.
A typical English market square consists of a square or rectangular area, or sometimes just a widening of the main street. It is usually situated in the centre of the town, surrounded by major buildings such as the parish church, town hall, important shops and hotels, and the post office, together with smaller shops and business premises. There is sometimes a permanent covered market building (the cloth hall), and the entire area is a traditional meeting place for local people as well as a centre for trade.
The largest Market Square in Europe is the Main Market Square in Kraków, Poland, a major centre of international trade during its golden age in the 15th century. Incidentally, the longest such square is also located in Poland, in the town of Pułtusk.
Famous quotes containing the words market and/or square:
“I respect not his labors, his farm where everything has its price, who would carry the landscape, who would carry his God, to market, if he could get anything for him; who goes to market for his god as it is; on whose farm nothing grows free, whose fields bear no crops, whose meadows no flowers, whose trees no fruit, but dollars; who loves not the beauty of his fruits, whose fruits are not ripe for him till they are turned to dollars. Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In old times people used to try and square the circle; now they try and devise schemes for satisfying the Irish nation.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)