Walk in Gdańsk: Main Town
Dlugi Targ, Gdańsk/Fot. Shutterstock
Dluga Street and Dlugi Targ - these are the city's business card, and are the most popular place for tourist trails, to encourage walking and to breathe in history. Ulica Długa and Długi Targ, which form the Royal Route, run from the Złota Brama (Golden Gate) to the Zielona Brama (Green Gate) and end on the shore of the Motława. Długi Targ (Long Market) is actually an elongated rectangle, in contrast to traditional market squares. However its purpose was the same - for trade. Interestingly, in the thirteenth century, along with ulica Długa there was already a trade route in place which had the oval shape of a market place. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, meat was traded every Saturday at the Long Market, and in the section between Fontanna Neptuna (Neptune Fountain) and the Town Hall live pigs used to be sold, which is why that part of the Royal Route is called the piglets market. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it served as an exchange market. The executions of witches, heretics and criminals were also performed, but only of those from the nobility, or who were legitimate citizens. The rest were executed on the Szubieniczna Mount or at the Torture House. The Royal Route was a place for the prestigious, and Gdańsk's wealthy nobility such as mayors and wealthy merchants lived here. Almost every house has its own colourful history. The oldest remaining houses were built in the Middle Ages, however most of the buildings are from the modern era. The tenement buildings on ulica Długa are typical Gdańsk houses with narrow façades, topped gables or parapets, and are richly decorated with coats of arms, allegorical figures and figures of ancient heroes. In the Long Market tower the city's most important secular buildings: the Main Town Hall (Ratusz Głównego Miasta) and Artus Court (Dwór Artusa).