The Town Square of Bardejov is a large, rectangular medieval marketplace ringed on three sides by 46 pastel-coloured burgher houses, each with its own distinctive gable and many decorated with elaborate stone carvings above the entrance portal. The square was laid out in the 13th century and has changed surprisingly little since — it is one of the reasons UNESCO listed the old town in 2000 as one of Central Europe's finest examples of a medieval planned town.
The centre of the square is dominated by the former Town Hall (1505–1509), now housing the Šariš Museum's main historical exhibition on Bardejov's history as a free royal town. In summer, café tables fill the space between the buildings, and the lack of through traffic gives the whole place an unhurried quality rare in a UNESCO site.