Lakenhal

A cloth hall or linen hall (; ; ; ) 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.

Belgium

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.

*Antoing: the former town hall had been built as a cloth hall in 1565
*Bruges: Kontor of Bruges
*Brussels, see Drapery Court of Brussels
*Dendermonde:
*Diest:
*Tournai:
*Geel: former city hall
*Ghent: Belfry of Ghent
*Halen: on the site of the current town hall
*Hasselt: Cloth Hall, since the 18th century
*Heestert: Lakenhalle OLV Hemelvaart
*Herentals:
*Ypres: Ypres Cloth Hall
*Kortrijk: Great Cloth Hall, destroyed in 1944, now Schouwburgplein.
*Langemark: 1296–1344, destroyed by Ypres weavers
*Leuven: University Hall (Leuven)
*Lier, Belgium: the current .
*Maaseik
*Mechelen:
*Nieuwkerke, demolished in 1844
*Oudenaarde: Oudenaarde Town Hall
*Sint-Truiden:
*Tielt:
*Turnhout: old Town Hall of Turnhout on Herentalsstraat, demolished in 1962
* Zinnik
*Verviers
*Zoutleeuw:

Britain and Ireland

British examples are Drapers' Hall, London; the Piece Hall, Halifax; and Leeds' White Cloth Hall.

File:Piece Hall, Halifax (36239750242).jpg, Piece Hall (cloth hall), Halifax, England
File:Third White Cloth Hall, Assembly Street, Leeds (12th April 2014).JPG, Surviving part of Leeds' 3rd White Cloth Hall (opened 1775)

In Ireland, the Dublin Linen Hall was completed in 1728, and later White Linen Hall was constructed in Belfast. 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.

Germany

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.

File:Braunschweig Gewandhaus mit Zollhaus (2011).JPG, ''Gewandhaus'' (Cloth Hall) in Brunswick, Germany
File:Zwickau Theatre.jpg, ''Gewandhaus'' (Cloth Hall) in Zwickau, Germany
File:Neues Gewandhaus Leipzig 2011.jpg, Rebuilt, third Leipzig ''Gewandhaus'' concert hall (opened 1981)

Netherlands

The former Cloth Hall in Leiden, Netherlands, has, since the 19th century, housed the Museum De Lakenhal (Municipal Cloth-Hall Museum) of art.
*Amsterdam: cloth hall Groenburgwal, nowadays an Anglican church named
*Echt, Netherlands
*Deventer: Wanthuis, part of the since the 15th/16th century.
*Dordrecht: later called ''Huis Scharlaeken''. Demolished in 1858. The Watersteinstoren used to be part of it for a time.
*Leiden: Laecken-Halle, see Museum De Lakenhal
*Maastricht: Cloth hall at the Market square; linen weavers mainly resided in the Boschstraatkwartier
*Middelburg, Zeeland
*Nijmegen: Gewandhuis/Lakenhal, Great Market square 22–25; the current is a remnant of it.
*Sittard: at the Market square, destroyed
*Weert. Weerter cloth was also traded in the ''Halle van Weert'' in Hoogstraat in Bergen op Zoom and stored in ''De Stadt van Weert'' in Reijnderstraat in Antwerp.

Poland

In Poland, the most famous existing cloth-hall building is Kraków's Cloth Hall (''Sukiennice''), rebuilt in 1555 in Renaissance style.The World's Best Squares
PPS website, Making Places, December 2005
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).

File:Krakow rynek 02.jpg, ''Sukiennice'' (Cloth Hall), Kraków, Poland
File:Sukiennice c.1870.jpg, Kraków's ''Sukiennice'' (Cloth Hall), c. 1870
File:602979 Toruń wnętrza ratusza 02.JPG, Gothic cloth hall in Old Town Market Hall, Toruń, Poland

Notes and references

{{Reflist

Commercial buildings
Textile industry