Old Market Square
In 1237, Płock got civic rights, assigned by Conrad of Mazovia. The Town Charter transformed loose settlements scattered around the duke's stronghold into a town with strictly designated boundaries and arranged spatial structure. It determined also rights and obligations being the same for all of the inhabitants and future settlers – Poles, Germans and Jews. Thereby, Płock took over towns such as Cracow, Wrocław or Poznan. until today, the only certain point of the primary layout is the Post-Dominican church. After the period of destructive invasions of tribes from the north and the east, at the turn of the 13th and the 14th century, during the reign of Boleslaus II, grandson of Conrad, the town was rebuilt with new boundaries. The urban layout formed at that time has survived till our times, apart from minor changes. The entire area was divided into quarters, they, in turn, were divided into plots of the same surface area. Traditionally, in the middle there was a market square. in its south-eastern part there was a Gothic town hall, tower-shaped, with the basement, which served as prison. Later, one-floor wings were added, and the tower was ornamented with a Baroque cupola, with a gallery for the municipal guard. it was preserved in such shape until the 19th century. Municipal shambles and stalls of merchants were located around. Most streets ran in parallel to the ancient commercial route east-west along the Vistula River, with Wyszogrodzka and Dobrzyńska gates. Bielska Street ran north of the market to the third gate, at which the church of Holy Spirit with a shelter for old people were located. The main street Grodzka led to the castle. on the initiative of King Kazimierz the Grand, in the 1350s, a parish church of St. Bartholomew and defensive walls, surrounding the entire town, were built . Between the northern frontage of the market and the town wall there was a Jewish district with a synagogue in the middle and many tenement houses on very narrow plots.
Most houses were wooden and streets were lined with wooden beams. due to fires, which destroyed many times all quarters of buildings, and Swedish wars, the oldest existing tenement houses at the market square date back to the first half of the 18th century. As early as in the Prussian times, the demolition of defensive walls and the gates of the town began. At the Wyszogród route, a new district was created, with an extensive yard, the building for administration and houses of officials. Thanks to mortgage introduced at that time, within decade, the quantity of brick tenement houses at the market square doubled; they were often built on Gothic basements.
As a result of the Napoleon wars, the town fell into stagnation. The Town Hall, finally devastated by troops, was demolished in 1817.Economic revitalization took place thanks to the activity of general Florian Kobyliński, who administered the Płock Province. He sought funds for public works. The first investment was construction of a new seat of the town authorities. in the period 1824-1825, a building was erected, which is the middle part of the today's town hall.
It was designed by Jakub Kubicki, creator of, among others, the Warsaw Belvedere. It stands out thanks to beautiful architectural detail, being one of the most beautiful Classicistic buildings of this type. in the 1930s, it was crowned with a clock tower with a fire watchtower on the top. On its both sides tenement houses were located, dating back to the beginning of the 19th century, which, with the passage of time, were bought and reconstructed for the needs of the office, creating one architectural whole (1843 and 1928). Currently, the Town Hall occupies the whole western frontage of the Old Market Square. According to the tradition, it is where the last meeting of the parliament and government of the Kingdom of Poland was held, before the fall of the November Uprising in 1831.
An apartment in the center, at the market square, has always proved prestige of townsmen. in the 16th century, in the country the case of mayor Jan Alantsee, constructor of the first water supply system in Płock, was very well-known. As a pharmacist and person supplying spices to Queen Bona, he was suspected of poisoning the last Dukes of Mazovia. His house was at the market square, opposite the bell tower of the parish church. On the other side, near the St. Michael's Church, the family home of Maciej Sarbiewski, student of the Jesuit College, was located. His poems written in Latin brought him fame in the whole 17th- century Europe, a golden laurel from the pope and the title of "the Christian Horatio". in tenement house no. 8 (Darmstadt House), in Berliński Hotel at that time, in the early 19th E.T.A. Hoffmann lived, a German poet and composer related to the romanticism. in house no. 7 Hipolit Gawarecki lived, a lawyer and pioneer of research on the history of Mazovia.
In 1877, the market was transferred to the New Market Square. at the square a park was arranged with paths, stage and decorated pavilions. in 2000, the modernized Old Market Square was ornamented by a fountain. Every day, at midday and 6 p.m., from the tower of the town hall the Płock bugle-call reverberates, performed by a trumpeter; the bugle-call was composed by priest Kazimierz Starościński. After the bugle-call, at midday in the tower figures appear, showing the scene of knighting Duke Boleslaus the Wry-Mouthed by his father, Władysław Herman.
Selected structures at the Old Market Square:
The Town Hall (the present seat of the Municipal Office of Płock)
Old Market Square 1
the God's Mercy Sanctuary
Darmstadt House
Tourist Information
Old Market Square 8
Płock Local Tourist Organization (PLOT)
