The Hauptmarkt is the main square of Nuremberg's old city — a broad open space ringed by the Gothic Frauenkirche, the Schöner Brunnen fountain, and the city hall. On ordinary days it serves as a farmers' market; in December it becomes Germany's most famous Christmas market, the Christkindlmarkt, with stalls selling Lebkuchen, Glühwein, and handmade ornaments from an early 16th-century tradition.
Every day at noon the Männleinlaufen clock on the Frauenkirche's facade animates, sending a procession of golden figures circling an emperor — the mechanism has run since 1509. The square is pedestrianised and the natural centre for any visit to Nuremberg.