Old Town Market Square

The Old Town Market Square is the centre of Warsaw's historic core and the reason the district holds UNESCO recognition. The merchant houses around it look centuries old, but almost everything here was rebuilt from ruins after 1945. The reconstruction, carried out mainly between 1948 and 1953, worked from old plans, architectural drawings and the eighteenth-century Warsaw views of Bernardo Bellotto.

The square is the heart of the Old Town and the natural starting point for the district. It is compact and walkable, ringed with cafes and restaurants, and it carries a larger story: that Warsaw chose to rebuild its old centre house by house rather than start again. The Museum of Warsaw on the square explains how.

There is more to the square than the facades:

• The bronze Mermaid, the symbol of Warsaw, stands at the centre. The original figure was cast in 1855 by Konstanty Hegel and survived the war.
• The Museum of Warsaw fills a row of connected townhouses on the north side and tells the city's story across many rooms.
• Painted house fronts line all four sides, each side named after a leading figure of the late eighteenth century.
• Narrow lanes lead off to the Barbican and the red-brick city walls.

The square was laid out in the late medieval period and grew into the commercial and social centre of old Warsaw. In 1944 the district was reduced to rubble. Rather than clear the ruins, the city rebuilt the square and the streets around it after the war, salvaging original fragments where it could. The Historic Centre of Warsaw was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1980, recognised specifically as an act of reconstruction.

The square itself takes twenty minutes to take in. Add an hour or more for the Museum of Warsaw, and longer if you wander the surrounding lanes to the Barbican and the walls. Half a day covers the wider Old Town.

Early morning and late evening are the calmest and best for photographs, before and after the tour groups. Summer middays are the busiest. In December the square and nearby streets host a Christmas market. The house fronts look their best under low light.

The square sits at the centre of the Old Town, which is closed to cars. It is a short walk from the Royal Castle and Castle Square, and trams and buses stop around the edge of the district. For wider transport, see the Warsaw guide.

The square is flat but paved with cobbles that are uneven underfoot and can be hard going for wheelchairs and prams. The Museum of Warsaw occupies historic houses with some steps, so check its access information before you visit.

The square is the hub of the Old Town, with the main sights close by:

• The Royal Castle and Castle Square, a few minutes south.
• St John's Cathedral, on the lane between the square and the castle.
• The wider Old Town and the Barbican, and the start of Krakowskie Przedmiescie beyond the castle.

Not in its fabric. The buildings were rebuilt after 1945 from old records and paintings. The layout and appearance are faithful to the original, but the structures are post-war reconstructions.

The Historic Centre of Warsaw was listed in 1980 as an example of the reconstruction of a destroyed historic city, rather than for surviving medieval fabric.

The Syrenka is the symbol of Warsaw, taken from the city's coat of arms. The original bronze on the square was made in 1855 by Konstanty Hegel.