Bydgoszcz Old Market square is an oblong place (about ), situated in the old town district of the city of Bydgoszcz. The City Hall flanks one of its side, and nearby is located St. Martin and St. Nicholas Cathedral.
Location
The Old Market square marks the center of Bydgoszcz, a Polish city established in 1346 by king Casimir III the Great. The place faces watercourses on both of its flanks: Brda (river) river, 100 m from its northern frontage; a leat channel (), originally dug to power mills (Młyn in polish), running 150 m from its western frontage.
Quaint and historic streets stem from this square: Northbound towards Grodzka street and Brda river: Mostowa street and Father Tadeusz Malczewski street; Eastbound towards Podwale Street: Kręta street and Teofil Magdziński street; Southbound towards Długa street: John II Kazimierz street and Stephen Báthory street; Westward towards' Jezuicka Street: Niedźwiedzia street and Farna Street.
History
Bydgoszcz market place has been charted in 1346, then paved in 1604. Until the end of the 17th century, court judgments were carried out there in public. It was the administrative and commercial heart of the city until the beginning of the 20th century, where Bydgoszcz economic, cultural and social life teemed. The market and the rim of properties located around constituted the core of the nascent city. Further expansion followed with plots built along Jezuicka or Długa streets.
Elements from excavations
Archaeological diggings carried out in the area of the place unearthed early Middle Ages artefacts, indicating that the area was inhabited before Bydgoszcz establishment. Oldest items, dating back to pre-settlement, have been found in the north-east corner of the Old Market Square: ceramics from the 12th century and beginning of the 13th century. Objects from the Lusatian culture (pottery fragments) have even been recorded below the early medieval layer, in several locations around the place.
Another excavation, performed in 1969, exhumed relics of St. Ignatius of Loyola Jesuit Church, located on the western flank and demolished in 1940: fragments of wooden buildings, a wooden well originally located in the courtyard edifice, along with large amounts of clay and glass vessel fragments.
Diggings at the southern frontage of the square unveiled fragments of wooden pipes running along north–south and northeast–southwest directions.
During an excavation running through the middle of the place, elements of the foundations of the former Old Town Hall have been found.
Most interesting discoveries were made during a 2010 archaeological campaign, realized prior to the launching of reconstructions linked to Bydgoszcz Urban Revitalization Plan. These excavations unveiled well-preserved foundations of the former gothic town hall (e.g. vaulted cellars) once standing in the middle of Old Market square, basements of the town hall tower and merchant stalls. In addition, traces of settlement dating back to the 12th century and elements of Iron Age Pomeranian culture period have been found.
Jagiellonian period (1346–1772) The original buildings of the Market Square were made of wood. Residential brick buildings do not appear before the 15th century. The Gothic brick edifices from the end of the 15th century were expanded with Baroque features in the 17th century and rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century with Eclectic and Art Nouveau façades. The oldest element preserved in the vicinity of the Market Square can be found at the back of the house at Farna Street 6: it is a stone tablet with a Latin carving, displaying the date (1593) of the building and the initials of the owner -Bartosz Krąpiewski-, city councilor and mayor of Bydgoszcz between 1599 and 1603.
Presumably, the first town hall, made of wood, was built in the 14th century at the centre of the market place. During the following century, it was replaced by a Gothic brick edifice. After its burning in 1511, a construction of a new town hall started, according to the design of master Jan from Gdańsk. It was completed around 1600, and featured a Renaissance high building with a tower, which was the pride of the city.
Documented sources report the start of a construction in 1523 of a water supply network in the city, thoroughly modernized after 1541 by pipe-master Walenty from Bochnia. Wooden pipes were laid on the surface of the Market place and four public water wells built, probably connected with waterworks. During the second part of the 17th century, together with the downturn and depopulation of Bydgoszcz, the water supply network was neglected, but it partially fulfilled its role until the 19th century.