Oude Markt

The Oude Markt is the main square and social heart of Enschede — a large, pedestrianised plaza lined with café terraces, overlooked by the towers of the Grote Kerk. In summer it is one of the busiest outdoor squares in the eastern Netherlands; in winter the Christmas market fills it with lights and glühwein stalls.

The square and the streets radiating from it — particularly the shopping street of the Kalanderstraat — form the commercial centre of the city. The terraces are busy on almost any evening when the weather allows. The Grote Kerk, which dominates the north end of the square, is worth a look inside.

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A story
The Oude Markt is built on the site of a medieval market square that was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1862 — one of the worst urban fires in Dutch history, which wiped out the medieval centre of Enschede and killed dozens of people. The current square is entirely Victorian in character, rebuilt in the decades after the fire. A second catastrophe followed in 2000 when the fireworks depot explosion destroyed the Roombeek district north of the centre.

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