Historic and geographical center of Turnhout, located at the intersection of two axes: Otterstraat/Gasthuisstraat east-west, Patersstraat/Herentalsstraat north-south.
Slightly trapezoidal square, formerly so-called "Singel", whose current building lines had already been established in the 10th century; the connection between the market/church and the northwestern castle complex used to be much clearer. The oldest preserved building fragments are the substructure of St. Peter's Church and a medieval cellar under number 52.
Although the appearance of the current buildings was largely created in the 19th and 20th centuries, we find cellars dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries; 16th-century and 17th-century traces are still present in the construction. In the engraving by Lucas Vorsterman junior from circa 1667, all the lots around the market are built up, both with deep and wide houses; in the middle of the square is the Sint-Pieterskerk, opposite the Herentalsstraat the old town hall and towards the west side the former Steentje. In the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, most of the gable ends were converted into plastered, light-painted moldings with rectangular wall openings.
A row of houses was built on the square itself in the period 1779-1788 to the north and east of the church, adjacent to the Latin school and parallel to the current north side of the market; this created the so-called "Nieuwstraat", renamed Victor Van Halstraat in 1920; in 1961-1968 the entire southern row of houses was demolished and the original building line of the market restored.