The Hauptmarkt is the heart of the old town, a broad rectangular square ringed by gabled merchants' houses and dominated at the east end by the yellow Baroque Rathaus (town hall), completed in 1732 on the site of an earlier Renaissance building destroyed by fire. The tower clock is the largest in eastern Saxony.
A weekly market still runs on the square (Wednesdays and Saturdays) selling local produce, baked goods, and the Bautzen sausages and mustard that the region is known for. In December the square hosts one of Saxony's oldest Christmas markets, the Wenzelsmarkt, running since 1384.