A cloth hall or linen hall (German: Gewandhaus; Polish: Sukiennice; French: Halle aux draps; Dutch; Flemish: Lakenhal) is a historic building located in the centre of the main marketplace of a European town. Cloth halls were built from medieval times into the 18th century.
A cloth hall contained trading stalls for the sale, particularly, of cloth but also of leather, wax, salt, and exotic imports such as silks and spices.
Examples of cloth halls in Belgium include the Ypres Cloth Hall and cloth halls in Bruges, Leuven, and Tournai. Leuven's Linen-Hall is in an early-Gothic style, with baroque addition, and now serves as the Leuven University Hall.
the former town hall had been built as a cloth hall in 1565
former city hall
on the site of the current town hall
Cloth Hall, since the 18th century
Lakenhalle OLV Hemelvaart
Great Cloth Hall, destroyed in 1944, now Schouwburgplein.
1296–1344, destroyed by Ypres weavers
the current .
old Town Hall of Turnhout on Herentalsstraat, demolished in 1962
British examples are Drapers' Hall, London; the Piece Hall, Halifax; and Leeds' White Cloth Hall.
In Ireland, the Dublin Linen Hall was completed in 1728, and later White Linen Hall was constructed in Belfast.[1] The Linen Hall Library is located in this area. There were linen halls in other towns such as Castlebar (which includes Linenhall Arts Centre) and Clonakilty.
Examples of German Gewandhäuser can be found in the towns of Brunswick, Zwickau, and Leipzig.
The rebuilt, third Leipzig Gewandhaus is home to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
The former Cloth Hall in Leiden, Netherlands, has, since the 19th century, housed the Museum De Lakenhal (Municipal Cloth-Hall Museum) of art.
cloth hall Groenburgwal, nowadays an Anglican church named
Wanthuis, part of the since the 15th/16th century.[2]
later called Huis Scharlaeken.[3] Demolished in 1858. The Watersteinstoren used to be part of it for a time.
Laecken-Halle, see Museum De Lakenhal
Cloth hall at the Market square; linen weavers mainly resided in the Boschstraatkwartier
Gewandhuis/Lakenhal, Great Market square 22–25; the current is a remnant of it.[4]
at the Market square, destroyed
In Poland, the most famous existing cloth-hall building is Kraków's Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), rebuilt in 1555 in Renaissance style.[6] The 14th-century Gothic cloth hall in Toruń is preserved as part of the Old Town Market Hall.
Cloth halls formerly also existed in Poznań, at the Old Market Square; and in Wrocław, at the site of the street now called ulica Sukiennice (Cloth-Hall Street).