Union Square (Piata Unirii) is the most beautiful of Timisoara's three central squares — a large rectangular open space surrounded on all sides by Baroque palaces in pale yellow, pink and green stucco. The Roman Catholic Dome of St. George dominates the northern side and the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral the southern, facing each other across the cobbles.
The square has been the social and ceremonial heart of the city since the early 18th century, when the Habsburgs rebuilt Timisoara as a Baroque garrison town after the long Ottoman occupation. Most of the buildings around the perimeter — the Bruck House, the Serbian Vicariate, the Lloyd Palace — date from that period or just after. A short walk through the square delivers most of the city's best surface architecture in a single block.