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Cloth hall

{{Short description|Historic building in the marketplace of a European town}}

A cloth hall or linen hall ({{langx|de|Gewandhaus}}; {{langx|pl|Sukiennice}}; {{langx|fr|Halle aux draps}}; {{langx|nl|Lakenhal}}) is a historic building located in the centre of the main marketplace of a European town. Cloth halls were built from medieval times into the 18th century.

A cloth hall contained trading stalls for the sale, particularly, of cloth but also of leather, wax, salt, and exotic imports such as silks and spices.

Belgium

File:Ieper Lakenhal R02.jpg]]

File:Tournai Ha1JPG.jpg Cloth Hall]]

File:Antoing, voormalig stadhuis.jpg]]

Examples of cloth halls in Belgium include the Ypres Cloth Hall and cloth halls in Bruges, Leuven, and Tournai. Leuven's Linen-Hall is in an early-Gothic style, with baroque addition, and now serves as the Leuven University Hall.

Britain and Ireland

British examples are Drapers' Hall, London; the Piece Hall, Halifax; and Leeds' White Cloth Hall.

File:Piece Hall, Halifax (36239750242).jpg|Piece Hall (cloth hall), Halifax, England

File:Third White Cloth Hall, Assembly Street, Leeds (12th April 2014).JPG|Surviving part of Leeds' 3rd White Cloth Hall (opened 1775)

In Ireland, the Dublin Linen Hall was completed in 1728, and later White Linen Hall was constructed in Belfast.{{cite news|last1=Hopkins|first1=Frank|date=4 September 2008|title=The Very Fabric Of Dublin's Past|language=en|work=Irish Independent|url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/herald/entertainment/the-very-fabric-of-dublins-past-27884232.html|access-date=31 August 2021}} The Linen Hall Library is located in this area. There were linen halls in other towns such as Castlebar (which includes Linenhall Arts Centre) and Clonakilty.

Germany

Examples of German Gewandhäuser can be found in the towns of Brunswick, Zwickau, and Leipzig.

The rebuilt, third Leipzig Gewandhaus is home to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

File:Braunschweig Gewandhaus mit Zollhaus (2011).JPG|Gewandhaus (Cloth Hall) in Brunswick, Germany

File:Zwickau Theatre.jpg|Gewandhaus (Cloth Hall) in Zwickau, Germany

File:Neues Gewandhaus Leipzig 2011.jpg|Rebuilt, third Leipzig Gewandhaus concert hall (opened 1981)

Netherlands

File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001015544 Lakenhal aan de Oude Singel in Leiden.jpeg (Holland) Broadcloth Hall: 19th-century view of present-day Museum De Lakenhal (Cloth-Hall Museum) of art]]

The former Cloth Hall in Leiden, Netherlands, has, since the 19th century, housed the Museum De Lakenhal (Municipal Cloth-Hall Museum) of art.

  • Amsterdam: cloth hall Groenburgwal, nowadays an Anglican church named {{ill|Christ Church (Amsterdam)|nl|Christ Church (Amsterdam)}}
  • Echt, Netherlands
  • Deventer: Wanthuis, part of the {{ill|Deventer town hall|nl|Stadhuis van Deventer|de|Rathaus Deventer}} since the 15th/16th century.{{aut|Ter Kuile, E.H., & Koch, A.C.F.}} (1964). Zuid-Salland. Den Haag: Staatsuitgeverij, [https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/kuil005zuid01_01/kuil005zuid01_01_0005.php geraadpleegd van DBNL]
  • Dordrecht: later called Huis Scharlaeken.{{Aut|Herwaarden, J., de Boer, D. P., van Kan, F., & Verhoeven, G.}} (1996). [https://books.google.com/books?id=3IAgb4mGpx0C&pg=PA30 Geschiedenis van Dordrecht tot 1572], pp. 29-30. Gemeentearchief Dordrecht Demolished in 1858. The Watersteinstoren used to be part of it for a time.
  • Leiden: Laecken-Halle, see Museum De Lakenhal
  • Maastricht: Cloth hall at the Market square; linen weavers mainly resided in the Boschstraatkwartier
  • Middelburg, Zeeland
  • Nijmegen: Gewandhuis/Lakenhal, Great Market square 22–25; the current {{ill|Kerkboog|nl|Kerkboog}} is a remnant of it.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Nijmegen §2.1 Wereldlijke bouwkunst |encyclopedia=Encarta Encyclopedie Winkler Prins |date=2002 |publisher=Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum |language=nl}}
  • Sittard: at the Market square, destroyed
  • Weert. Weerter cloth was also traded in the Halle van Weert in Hoogstraat in Bergen op Zoom and stored in De Stadt van Weert in Reijnderstraat in Antwerp.{{Cite book |title=Van stad en buitenie |author=J.F.A. Wassink |publisher=Uitgeverij Verloren |location=Hilversum |page=280 |date=2005 |isbn=90-6550-850-3 |access-date=11 April 2023 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxd1rg4Y8xkC&pg=PA280}}

Poland

In Poland, the most famous existing cloth-hall building is Kraków's Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), rebuilt in 1555 in Renaissance style.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080628174937/http://www.pps.org/info/newsletter/december2005/international_squares The World's Best Squares], PPS website, Making Places, December 2005

The 14th-century Gothic cloth hall in Toruń is preserved as part of the Old Town Market Hall.

Cloth halls formerly also existed in Poznań, at the Old Market Square; and in Wrocław, at the site of the street now called ulica Sukiennice (Cloth-Hall Street).

File:Krakow rynek 02.jpg|Sukiennice (Cloth Hall), Kraków, Poland

File:Sukiennice c.1870.jpg|Kraków's Sukiennice (Cloth Hall), c. 1870

File:602979 Toruń wnętrza ratusza 02.JPG|Gothic cloth hall in Old Town Market Hall, Toruń, Poland

Notes and references

{{commonscat|Cloth halls}}

{{Reflist}}

Category:Commercial buildings

Category:Textile industry