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The Prinzipal Market Muenster
The Prinzipalmarkt is a street in the Westphalian Münster. The name means main market, in contrast to Roggenmarkt and Fischmarkt, which follow the course of the road. The Prinzipalmarkt documents with its layout and buildings the history and building development of the economic and political centre of Münster. The citizens of Münster call the street their 'front room'.
The development as bourgeois market street at the edge of the Domfreiheit and on the eastern Domburg border started in the 12th-century. Closed construction happened probably around 1280. At the turn of the 13th to the 14th-century, originated the Prinzipalmarkt's characteristic arcade. The parcel structure and number of buildings survived, apart from a few exceptions, since ca 1500 till today. Only at the beginning of the 17th-century came the description of Prinzipalmarkt about.
Most buildings of the Prinzipalmarkt were destroyed completely, some down to the cellar in the 2nd World War. Through rebuilding between 1947 and 1958, the Prinzipalmarkt was able to conserve its character as an ensemble in a historic market location. Even though many buildings were significantly changed in contrast to its pre-war state, the rebuilding was done on the old plots and original material and design elements were used. Until the 25th of November 1954 trams drove over the Prinzipalmarkt.
The appearance of the Prinzipalmarkt construction is formed through arrays of gabled houses. A special feature is, that all gables are different. The architects at that time got their ideas from other gables, still everybody implemented their own version and so gave the Prinzipalmarkt its form. On the north side, the place is being closed by the tower of the Lamberti church, on the south side through the Stadthaus tower. Considerable design elements are the (also used in the rebuilding) used materials (Baumberger sandstone) and the arcade on the ground floor of the houses on the east and west side of the Prinzipalmarkt. The best known building of the Marktstraße is the historic town hall.
Since the 15th-century, mainly grocers and merchants lived on the Prinzipalmarkt continuously. Many of the local retailers reside on the Prinzipalmarkt in the historic merchants' houses. Through the construction of the shopping centreMünster Arkaden near the Prinzipalmarkt in the years 2004 to 2006, many traders feared a dwindling customers. But the arcades were kept small and some shops there were given to Münster merchants.
