Grote Markt (Nijmegen)
| Market square De Grote Markt |
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|---|---|
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Place in Nijmegen (German Nijmegen) |
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 South-west side of the square, towards Burgstrasse (Burchtstraat) |
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| Basic data | |
| place | Nijmegen (Ger. Nijmegen) |
| District | center |
| Created | 13th Century |
| Newly designed | 20./21. Century (extensive renovation of existing buildings) |
| Confluent streets |
Market (all around) and 6 streets |
| Buildings | Municipal buildings , churches and town houses |
| use | |
| User groups | Pedestrians , cyclists , motor vehicles |
Coordinates: 51 ° 50 '51.8 " N , 5 ° 51' 48.8" E
The Grote Markt in Nijmegen is located in the historical core of this Dutch city. It is not clearly delimited in terms of area because the buildings on its various sides, such as the city scales, are not precisely aligned with an imaginary line.
location
The irregularly shaped market square is initially considered to be the direct address for the buildings here such as the scale, restaurants or a department store. It is mainly cut by the traffic flows between the Heezelstraat and the Burchtstraat (east-west traffic).
In a clockwise direction, the following streets open onto the square, starting from the north: Korenmarkt, Kannenmarkt, Vijfringensgas, Grotestraat – Broerstraat street (cuts the market), Augustijnenstraat, Stikke Hezelstraat, Sint Stevenskerkhof with a gate directly onto the church square.
history
The square was created in the Middle Ages during the development of the place as a trading center on the river Rhine .
Around the year 1251 the place was called Hundisborch , around 1410 also Honsborch , derived from the name of the influential Van Honsborch merchant family. According to a protocol from 1678, this family owned a homestead near St. Stephen's Gate. In the centuries that followed, up to around 1590, the market square was also called Cruys and Cruys Marct , which indicates that a market cross may have stood in the middle , which is a symbol of the market rights granted .
The term Großer Markt has been used in various documents or on city maps since 1812, but the spelling has changed several times: Groote Markt (1812), De Grote Markt (1822), Grootemarkt (1859), Großer Markt (1892), Markt (1900 ), Groote Markt (1924), Grote Markt (1947).
During the Second World War , the square was in the center of the area that was hardest hit by the bombing raids on Nijmegen and the devastating fire of February 22, 1944.
After the Second World War and the reconstruction of the destroyed houses, the sculpture of Mariken van Nieumeghen , created by the sculptor Vera van Hasselt, was placed on the square .
Buildings and sights (selection)
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Around the market square there are seven Rijksmonumente such as the Boterwaag (city scales), the Sint-Stevenspoortje (St. Stephen's Gate) and various residential buildings.
- The historical blue stone is a bluish, rectangular granite slab at today's intersection of Burchtstraat – Broerstraat – Grote Markt, which is laid flush with the pavement. It marks the center of the medieval city where the Viae Principales (today's Grotestraat, Broerstraat, Korte Burchtstraat and Heezelstraat) converged. At the same time, it was the starting point for the four quarters or districts: Broersvierdel (A), Onze Lieve Vrouwenvierdel (B), St. Anthonisvierdel (C) and St. Jansvierdel (D).
- A first marker stone was mentioned in a document as early as 1522, and replacements were made in 1552 and 1647. The council resolution of 1924 on the binding naming of the Grote Markt explicitly included the intersection with the blue stone in the square.
- In March 2019, the plate was relocated because it was brought upside down during the last exchange. The Nijmegen Carnival Association takes care of this historical gem.
- Another use of the blue stone in the 16th century has been handed down: citizens who had been captured for a crime were first led around this stone before they were put into a dungeon. Should a resident be found as surety on this occasion, the accused was initially released until the judge's judgment. In the case of men sentenced to the death penalty who also had to walk around the stone, it was also possible that unmarried women could guarantee by arranging an immediate marriage. The convict was then pardoned because men were consistently outnumbered in Nijmegen.
- Other customs were: a funeral procession at the funeral of members of craft guilds circled the stone. Or the citizens of Nijmegen gathered around their mayor, who stood on the stone with the city banner in hand, in the event of threats from intruders, civil unrest or in times of war. They showed their willingness to defend the city together.
- Occasionally the stone was or does happen that the stone is stolen, but either the police found the heavy and unwieldy piece or the city has a new stone made and laid based on the historical model.
- Traditionally, the residents of Nijmegen drink their first beer on this stone at the beginning of the carnival season.
- After the first major redesign of the town center around 1591, the area around the market square was now divided into eight parts of the city, with additional roads leading to and from the town.
- The Stadtwaage is a building based on plans by the architect Cornelis Janssen van Delft in 1612/1613 in the Renaissance brick style at Grote Markt 26–28. The actual weighing hall on the right side of the building was a large pillared hall supported by three ribbed vaults. The market vendors' wagons and carts could enter this hall through large gates. The goods were weighed here according to the measurements specified by the Nijmegen Council, mainly meat and butter. In the upper rooms, the traders could negotiate the business in detail. The Nijmegen Military Guard used the top floor until 1885.
- In the 21st century there is a restaurant on the premises. The building is a national monument with the number 31137th
- There is a three-story natural goods store at Burchtstraat 126, close to the market.
- The St. Stefanstor is a wide passage through a residential building, through which the church visitors are led directly from the Groten Markt to the town church or to the church square.
Use of the space
In the 16th century executions or severe punishments such as flogging , cutting off fingers or ears and display at 'De Kaak', the pillory , took place in the Groote Markt, Broerstraat, Grootestraat and Korte Burchtstraat . The pillory was demolished in 1805.
In the 20th century, forbidden books were also burned here .
A reversible cage was installed in front of the Waag between 1650 and 1800 . This cage was rotated at high speed by servants after women sentenced to prison were locked and tied up in it. After this procedure, the women had to leave the city.
The square is not traffic-calmed (in the 21st century), which means that vehicles, residents, tourists and market traders enliven the square.
In the neighborhood
- St. Stephen's Church on the courtyard of the same name is the Protestant parish church of Nijmegen. It was inaugurated in 1788, damaged or rebuilt several times and towers over all surrounding structures. The last reconstruction after the fire in 1944 was completed in 1969. In the 21st century it functions as an ecumenical city church.
- Round stainless steel plaques embedded in the sidewalk along the Burchtstraat and on other streets, referring to the fire boundary where thousands of people died in 1944 (see picture above).
- Sint Petrus Canisius Church in Molenstraat
- The composer Willem Heijden (1858–1928) lived in the house at Grote Markt 30 on the parcel Kannenmarkt 27 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b see under web links : The Grote Markt.
- ↑ Brinkhoff; 1982, p. 49.
- ↑ a b c Street names in Nijmegen: The Blue Stone , accessed on April 27, 2020.
- ↑ a b c The blue stone returned to its historical place in the heart of Nijmegen. (Dutch) , Retrieved April 28, 2020.
- ↑ HDJ van Schevichaven: Pen sketches from Nijmegen's past , 1898, vol. I, p. 28 ff.
- ^ Noviomagum: Memories of Nijmegen's story , collected by HB van Lummel. Nijmegen, PJ Milborn, 1885, p. 71 ff. (Cited in Teunissen 1933).
- ^ Neighbor, 1829, pp. 27-28.
- ^ Department store homepage , accessed on April 28, 2020.