Main Market (Hauptmarkt)

The pedestrian malls open out into it or radiate out from it on all sides – it’s all a matter of perspective. And it’s worth constantly changing this to discover new things: On the steps of the Market Cross (Marktkreuz) at its centre, erected in 958 and thus the oldest in all of Germany, you only have to turn slightly northwards to see the Porta or eastwards to see the cathedral. As you walk around St Peter’s Fountain (Petrusbrunnen), you’ll see watchful women – allegories for the four cardinal virtues of justice, fortitude, temperance and prudence – and mischievous monkeys, whose many paw positions would have made the city’s patron saint, St Peter, at the top blush if he hadn’t already grown used to their pranks over the 400 years prior. And finally, it’s worth looking up to see the different building exteriors, which, with Madonnas, gold stars, water features and oxen, all compete for the title of most unusual façade decoration. Even though this title has ultimately been claimed by the Steipe, with its watchful knights figures and arcades of pointed arches, it is only by taking in all the surrounding buildings that the Hauptmarkt becomes what it today continues to be: The heart of the city that welcomes all its visitors.