The Vrijdagmarkt (Friday Market) has been Ghent's main public gathering place for political events, executions, and market days since the Middle Ages. The square is dominated by a large statue of Jacob van Artevelde, the 14th-century Ghent leader who allied the city with England during the Hundred Years' War, and ringed by guild houses and merchant buildings dating from the 15th to 19th centuries.
A weekly market still takes place on Friday mornings. The square's buildings now house bars and restaurants on their ground floors, and the terraces fill in summer. The atmosphere is more neighbourhood than tourist, which makes it a good place to spend time between the more intensive sightseeing of the cathedral and belfry.