Rynek w Bochni

Rynek w Bochni is a regular, square market square laid out around 1370 at the junction of eight streets: Kazimierza Wielkiego, Sądecka, Tadeusza Kościuszki, Solna, Wąska, Szewska, Wolnica and plac św. Kingi. Eight buildings on the square are listed monuments, including the former municipal weigh-house at Rynek 2 and the former Dominican monastery at Rynek 20, now a museum. A column with a statue of King Kazimierz the Great, erected in 1870, stands on the paving.

The square was laid out around 1370, late in the reign of Kazimierz the Great, east of the original 1253 market, and first served as an auxiliary market: a 1405 privilege of Władysław Jagiełło let butchers build stalls here. It took over as the main market in the 16th century. The Kazimierz Wielki column was erected in 1870, and in 1963–1964 the square was leveled and repaved.

The square's Latin names, Circulus Maior and Circulus Inferior, recall its medieval role as the lower market. A 1405 privilege of Władysław Jagiełło let butchers build stalls here, and later records list trade in meat, bread, dairy, vegetables, salt and herrings. The 1870 column of Kazimierz the Great, funded by the town council, still stands on the paving.

Eight streets radiate from the square: Kazimierza Wielkiego, Sądecka, Tadeusza Kościuszki, Solna, Wąska, Szewska, Wolnica and plac św. Kingi. The level surface laid in 1963–64 makes the whole plate easy to cross on foot. The bus station that once occupied part of the square was removed in 1981, so the space is now free of vehicle stands.

Between the 14th and 17th centuries three mine shafts stood within the square: Wielki in the north-east corner by today's Solna street, Wojewodzia Góra sunk in 1320–1331 in the south-west corner, probably by Kraków voivode Spytko of Melsztyn, and Targ, first recorded shortly before 1420. Wojewodzia Góra was linked to the Targ, Wielki and Herman shafts at a depth of about 60–80 m; Targ was filled in completely in 1710.