Bremen's market square in the center of Hamburg and is one of the oldest public courses in Bremen . On the good 3484 square meters of open space, in the five roads end and which are followed by two more places, nowadays there is no more market. Exceptions are the Christmas and the small outdoor market . Of the locals will marketplace called the "parlor" of the city. The site is a protected cultural property to the Hague Convention .

Bremen's market square is located in the eastern part of the old town on the right side of the Weser and is oriented northwest-southeast. In its western corner open the long road and the bridge stint, and at its northern end, close the upper road and the Liebfrauenkirchhof on. In the East, bordering the place to market the grass and on the south by the road "on the market". The marketplace is shaped like a slightly indented trapezoid . The northeast side has a length of 60 meters, the southeast side measures a good 54 meters, the north-west side about 51 meters and the southwest side of the 74th

The entire market is, as well as some subsequent streets, a pedestrian zone . From grass market, however, lead tram tracks for lines 2 and 3 on the northwest side of the plaza between City Hall and Roland along the upper road.

History and Development
The market was established in 1404, when the Bremen Town Hall was built. For him, the area south of the town hall was leveled and graded. Previously, the market was over a period of more than 600 years ago on the site of the present Church of Our Lady.

During the first year we put on the market place, the Roland statue on. In the following years, a 90 to 100 centimeters high stone wall was built that divided the space into an inner region and an outer ring. The market was held in the inner area and it was the rule that only dealers were allowed to participate, the car fitted with one of the seven passages in the enclosure. With this Order, the Council wanted to market the city to offer customers more room to walk around going between stalls as had often been ruled too big a crowd.

Around the middle of the 18th Century were built from the wall and replaced it with some stone pillars that formed a circle. In the same period the marketplace increasingly lost its outstanding economic importance as a commercial and trading center for Bremen, although several decades where the market was held. In 1863 the square sandstone slabs were laid. The interior of the column circuit is designed with darker stones so that a wheel zehnspeichiges contrasted with its center an educated with reddish stone Hanseatic Cross ( Cross Paws is). The cross, which has a diameter of 4.8 meters, should the importance of the Hanseatic Legion during the era of the Napoleonic Wars remember. The pavement of the Bremer marketplace was renewed from February to June 2002nd The redesigned historic Bremen's market was to the public on 10 October passed with an opening party.

The ensemble, which frames the Bremer marketplace, is considered one of the finest in Germany. With the Roland statue and City Hall a part of it was in July of 2004 in the UNESCO World Heritage List was added. The design of the market is characterized by relatively homogeneous materials sandstone (including Schütting) and dark brick or clinker (including the town hall, citizenship).

North-East side
On the northeast side of the square is since its inception, the Bremen Town Hall . This was built in the years 1405 to 1410 and had a simple Gothic facade. The present shape of the building was in the years 1608 to 1612 under the direction of architect Lüder von Bentheim . This renewed the entire marketplace facade and designed it in the style of the Weser Renaissance.

Southeast side
On this side of the square and on the adjacent grass market before the Bremen Cathedral were in the late 15th Century had built elaborate gabled houses, some of which are up to 400 years existed. The Balleersche House , Market 26 / corner of hay or grass market, with a Gothic came, six-axis brick gables of the 15th Century. Besides the Pundsacksche house from the Renaissance , Market 25, a beautiful sechsachsiges gabled house with pilasters originated in 1570 and in 1770 received one baroque portal and two storey Ausluchten . This was followed by five more gabled houses, mostly in the baroque style in. The gabled houses were in course of construction of the New Bremen Stock Exchange demolished in the years 1860 to 1863. The newly formed neo-Gothic building was inaugurated in 1864 and was one from an architectural point of view at that time a well-designed building in Bremen, but has been of great parts of the population considered to be too clunky and inappropriate at this point.

The Market on 20 December 1943 at an air attack by the Allies during World War II completely destroyed. The site remained a long time and have only been demolished after the Chamber of Commerce had sold the land in 1957 to the city.

The following year, wrote the city an architectural competition for a new seat of Bremen city council on the grounds, in the 71 designs were submitted. They decided on two designs that should be revised. In public, a controversy erupted over the design of the building, and so in 1961 a new competition was announced, the Vasily Luckhardt won. His plans foresaw a vertical stone and glass façade arrangement with eight indicated gables on the roof. Although this design many citizens of Bremen appeared too modern for the marketplace, it was implemented in 1966, the new house of the citizens opened.

southwest side
No. 13: The Schütting , seat of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce

On the southwest side of the square acquired the Bremen merchants 1444 a house. This they could demolish the 1535th For the planned new building had to the south side of the square, which at that time to Weserseitenarm bellows fell slightly, to be thrown up. In just two years from 1537 to 1538 was one of the strict, slender Flemish Renaissance buildings like building the Schütting. The merchants had to be consciously built directly opposite the town hall, to the councilors to demonstrate their power in the city. The inscription in the State portal within buten un - dare un gains ("inside and outside - and dare to win") has evolved into a kind of Bremen town motto.

The Schütting was headquarters for the parent people in Bremen , later called Collegium Seniorum and then since 1849 the Bremen Chamber of Commerce.

The Schütting burned after an air raid on 6 October 1944 to settle on the ground, but could be built up to 1956 in the old form again.

Within the Market wall in the centuries of its existence was only one permanent building: Market Watch. It was built before 1756 and had an octagonal shape and a Baroque dome with a lantern at the top. The market watch, which was not far from the pillory, served during the Seven Years' War as Bremen's main station. Around 1810, torn down the police station.

The Bremen Roland is located directly on the marketplace easily six feet left displaced before the facade of City Hall. The first wooden Roland was burned in 1366 by henchmen of the Archbishop. Today's comes from the year 1404 (the year in which the market was well and the rebuilding of the town hall began). He is a symbol of freedom and Bremen looks therefore as to the legend, direction Cathedral entrance, to remind the clergy to power of the City Council. The limestone statue has a height of more than five meters. The distance between the peaks is a Bremen knee Elle (exactly 55.372 centimeters) and at her feet a cripple is incorporated, which one of the protagonists of the saga of Emma Lesum is.

At the corner of citizenship domseitigen building is a "Bremer hole" called underground collection box, which is embedded in the pavement. It has superficial resemblance to a manhole cover, has a diameter of 50 centimeters and a depth of 90 centimeters. When inserting coins in the donation of the bronze slot cover they are the sounds of the Bremen Town Musicians (again Donkey / Dog / Cat / Hahn). These are the summer of 2007 by Radio Bremen been recorded and are now triggered by a photocell. The Bremen-based Studio for Design & Haase Knels designed this "acoustic social Moneybox". The donations support the Wilhelm-Kaisen-Bürgerhilfe selected projects. Was inaugurated in the "Bremer hole" on 27 July 2007 in the presence of President citizenship Christian Weber , who is also chairman of the foundation.

Since the year 1612 is in the right gusset of the second curve from the left of the square facing Rathausarkaden a small stone attached hen on a nest with chicks. This hen is a part of the most famous legends of the Hanseatic city, the " Sage of the Bremen hen ". Legend has it that Weser fishermen seek shelter from a storm and had a hen with her chicks saw, which brought on a dune in safety. This they saw as a sign of their nature gods and also established their camp at this point - the beginning of the city of Bremen.