Long Market (Dlugi Targ) and Neptune Fountain

The Long Market, or Dlugi Targ, is the broad main square-street of the Main Town in Gdansk, Poland, running east from the Golden Gate toward the Green Gate at the Motlawa river. From the Middle Ages it was the commercial heart of the Hanseatic city, where merchants traded grain, timber, amber and other goods that moved through the port. Together with Dluga Street it forms the Royal Way, the processional route along which Polish monarchs were received on visits to the city. The street is lined with tall, narrow merchant houses, many with richly carved portals and decorated gables, and with the facades of Artus Court and the Main Town Hall at its centre. In front of Artus Court stands the Neptune Fountain, a bronze figure of the sea god cast in the early 17th century to the design of Gdansk sculptors and installed in the 1630s after earlier work on a model by Abraham van den Blocke. The fountain became a symbol of the city's link with the sea, and local legend connects it with the liqueur Goldwasser. During the Second World War the Main Town was almost entirely destroyed, and the Long Market was reconstructed in the decades after 1945. The rebuilding followed historic documentation but adapted facades and interiors for modern use, so many houses combine historic exteriors with newer structures. The street is open at all hours as a public space and the Neptune Fountain is lit in the evening. Visitors typically find museums, cafes, amber shops and restaurants along the route. The architectural character is a mix of Dutch-influenced Renaissance and Mannerist styles, reflecting the city's trade links with the Netherlands. A walk from the Golden Gate to the Green Gate takes only a few minutes but the details on the facades reward slow viewing.