The main square of Beauvais is named after the city's most celebrated figure: Jeanne Hachette, the 15th-century heroine who helped defend the city against the Burgundian siege of 1472. Her bronze statue, hatchet raised, stands at the centre of the square and is the focus of the city's annual festival each June.
The square is flanked on one side by the Hôtel de Ville, a confident Belle Époque building in red brick with stone dressings — one of the few significant pre-war civic buildings to survive 1940. The surrounding café terraces fill on market mornings (Saturday is the main market day) and make this the most animated public space in the city.
The square is five minutes' walk from the cathedral and makes a natural orientation point for the historic centre.