De Vishal is a historical building dating from 1769 on the Grote Markt in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It is built up against the St. Bavochurch. As the name Vishal (fish-hall) literally indicates, it was constructed as a hall for selling fish to replace a much more extensive fish market that extended further into the town square and which dated from 1603, the same year as the Vleeshal (meat-hall) across the square. It was originally an open air market in the middle and the roof with skylight was installed in 1899. It functioned as a fish market until 1941. Today it serves as a gallery for temporary exhibitions of modern art. File:Pieter Jansz. Saenredam 010.jpg, Drawing by

Pieter Jansz Saenredam Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (9 June 1597 – buried 31 May 1665) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, known for his distinctive paintings of whitewashed church interiors such as '' Interior of St Bavo's Church in Haarlem'' (1636) and '' Interior ...

in 1629 of the Grote Markt with the northern edge of the old fish market extending across the market to the Hoofdwacht, Haarlem. File:Grote Markt Zonnevechter.jpg, Same view today with Hoofwacht on the left and corner of the Vishal on the right. File:Berkheyde-Haarlem.jpg, Painting by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde in 1696 with the old Vishal and the church. File:Grote Markt, Haarlem.jpg, View of the Vishal and church behind it today.

References

Website
{{Coord, 52, 22, 53, N, 4, 38, 12, E, display=title, region:NL_type:landmark_source:nlwiki Commercial buildings completed in 1769 Museums in Haarlem History of Haarlem Rijksmonuments in Haarlem 1769 establishments in the Dutch Republic 18th-century architecture in the Netherlands