Marktplatz is the central square of Ludwigsburg's planned baroque town and the social heart of the place outside the palace. The square was laid out as part of Eberhard Ludwig's grid in the early 1700s and is anchored by two churches facing each other across the open space — the Lutheran Stadtkirche to the south and the Catholic Dreieinigkeitskirche to the north — an unusual arrangement reflecting the duke's wish to attract settlers of both confessions to his new town.
The market itself runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and is one of the better farmers' markets in the Stuttgart region — local produce, bread, cheese, flowers. On non-market days the square is a wide expanse of cobblestone ringed by cafes and shops, with the symmetry of the surrounding baroque facades making it feel more like an Italian piazza than a typical German Marktplatz. The Christmas market here in December is among the more atmospheric in southern Germany.