Just left of Poznań's Town Hall is arguably the city's second-most photogenic sight: the iconic, colourful and slightly uneven Merchant Houses, which look a bit like a box of crayons sharpened to different lengths (ah, but their irregularity gives them their charm!). Built in the 16th century, these narrow townhouses were erected by individuals members of Poznań’s merchant class, who traded goods on the ground floor - most commonly fish, salt, textiles, grains, candles and furs - and slept upstairs. Originally referred to as 'herring huts' (budy śledziowe) due to the high volume of snack-sized fish that passed under their arcades, they later came to be known as the 'Budnicze Houses' (domki budnicze) in honour of a class of merchants known as 'Budnicy,' whose headquarters used to operate at no. 117; look closely and you’ll see their coat of arms on the facade: three palm trees and a herring.
If you were a wealthy merchant, you could build one of these slender houses on the market square. If you were a very, very wealthy merchant, you built your townhouse on opposite side facing the square.
These uniquely colonnaded buildings survived into the 20th century, but were almost completely destroyed during WWII. Faithfully rebuilt using many of their original Renaissance details, the polychromes on the facades were designed by Zbigniew Bednarowicz after the war. Today you can’t really get anything other than cheap souvenirs under the arcades, but there is a decent cafe (Rogal) making St. Martin’s croissants if you want to tick that box while you’re here.
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