500 m
Oulu Market Square
Open
When you reach the Market Square and its landmarks – the Market Hall, the old granaries, and the Market Square Policeman’s statue keeping the peace – you know you have arrived in the local people’s summertime living room.
From early morning on, the summery Market Square bustles with travellers and local residents, along with vegetable and food vendors as well restaurant keepers serving customers till late evening. The old, multi-coloured granaries house not only restaurants but also tiny, charming boutiques selling handicraft products, clothes, and decoration items.
Patrolling in front of the Market Hall and keeping a watchful eye on the visitors is the Market Square Policeman, a plump statue as a reminder of the times when real policemen were guarding the area. The vibrant harbour and export hub of the 18th century gradually became less busy, and the market area became a meeting place for city folk and visitors from the countryside. The policement were needed for upholding law and order.
Address
Kauppatori, 90100 Oulu
Opening hours
Monday Mo | Open |
Tuesday Tu | Open |
Wednesday We | Open |
Thursday Th | Open |
Friday Fr | Open |
Saturday Sa | Open |
Sunday Su | Open |
Historical Rantakortteli blocks of Oulu
1h
The most central blocks of wooden buildings in Oulu – with national significance – are the Rantakortteli ones adjacent to the Market Square. They are a window to the era of wealth in Oulu due to trade and seafaring in the 1870s and 1880s, when many trade-educated businessmen worked in Oulu. After the third and final Oulu Fire, handsome houses were built on Rantakatu, Ojakatu, and Hallituskatu streets in the spirit of neo-renaissance and art nouveau. Some stone buildings are included. If you stand back-to-back with the plump Market Square Policeman’s statue, you will see the pink House Höckert across Rantakatu street as well as the pastel green House Jurvelius on the left. Together they constitute a significant and recognisable part of the Oulu cityscape around the Market Square. House Jurvelius was built in the empire style and is the oldest wooden building (1828–1945) on Rantakatu street. Nowadays it is used as a student residence. The first ever electrical lighting system for a private home in Oulu was installed in the house in the year 1900! House Höckert dates to 1838. Also the Ojakatu and Hallituskatu streets still have some of the construction milieu built after the Oulu Fire in 1882. The single-floor wooden neo-renaissance building of the Oulu Trade Society was built in 1884.
