Benediktinerplatz

This square has hosted the weekly market for centuries, every Thursday and Saturday. As a child, my mother used to send me here on Saturdays to do the shopping. I mainly bought the vegetables for the soup — the traditional beef broth — but also meat and ingredients for the Käsnudeln. Everything fresh, directly from the market. It is a meeting place: farmers from the region bring their produce here. Today, one might say that it has become a kind of small “Naschmarkt”, like the one in Vienna. Sellers also come here from Italy, from Friuli, from Slovenia, with speciality products. There are stalls where people stop for a glass of wine, or perhaps a grappa. One of the special features of the market is the presence of the ancient “Freiung”, the displayed document certifying the medieval market right. There is also a market judge who oversees everything. And then there is the statue of the so-called “Stone Fisherman”. He can be recognised by his hat and by the fish at his feet, beside two stone weights. Legend has it that in the sixteenth century this fisherman would go fishing at Lake Wörthersee, then come to the market to sell the fish, but tampering with the scales. The judge accused him of fraud. And he replied: “If I have cheated, may I turn to stone.” And instantly he turned to stone. Since then, he has been here, for centuries, as a warning to all traders: honest weighing is a serious matter. It is a story that continues to be told. The medieval market right, on which this activity is still founded today, forms part of the city statutes. And for those who wish to find out more, at the kärnten.museum, on the second floor, there is a space dedicated to medieval urban law: how laws, regulation and justice functioned.