The Market Square is located in the center of the Old Town of Warsaw, which has been surrounded by a Fortress wall since the 14th century. Nowadays, the Market Square is a favorite walking place for tourists and residents of the city. There are always a lot of artists here. Museums and restaurants are located in the houses that surround the square.
In the Middle Ages, there was a small settlement on the territory of Warsaw. The first stone houses in Warsaw began to be built only in the 14th century, and in the 15th century the city became the capital of a small Mazovian principality. The territory of the city, which the Mazovian princes defended with a fortress wall, was small. In the center of the Old Town was the Warsaw Market Square.
The distance from the Market Square to the Royal Palace is 300 meters. There were the southern Krakow fortress gates. The distance from the Market Square to the North Florian Gate, where the Warsaw Barbican is now located, is only 150 meters.
In the center of the Market Square there is a monument to the Warsaw Mermaid Siren. It is a symbol of the city and is depicted on the coat of arms of the city. She holds a round shield in her left hand and a curved sword in her right.
There is a legend connected with the Warsaw Mermaid that two mermaids lived in the Baltic Sea. One of them came ashore near Copenhagen, and now the Monument of the Little Mermaid adorns the Embankment of this city. The second mermaid swam along the Wisla River to ancient Warsaw, but one person caught her in a net. The son of this man freed the mermaid, and she has promised to protect him and all residents of the city.
Since then, the Warsaw Mermaid has been depicted with a sword and shield. The inhabitants of Warsaw call her Sirena or Sirenka. Throughout Warsaw, you can see numerous images of a Mermaid or her sculptures. Sometimes a mermaid is depicted with the legs and tail of a dragon, and sometimes with the tail of a fish.
Since the 14th century, there has been a Town Hall and Gothic-style houses on Warsaw`s Market Square. A tower similar to the Gdansk Town Hall towered over it. After the fire of 1607, the town hall was reconstructed, and in 1817 it was dismantled.
During the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, the Market Square and the surrounding houses were completely destroyed, but in the 1950s the architectural appearance of the Market Square was restored in the Baroque and Renaissance style. In the houses surrounding the square there are the Historical Museum of Warsaw, the Museum of Literature and the Old House of Culture.
