Greenmarket Square is a historical square in the centre of old Cape Town. The square was built in 1696.
In the 18th century the first Burgher Watch House was built on the site in about 1716. Initially it was a plain residential structure, but in 1755 the foundation stone for a new and more ornate building was laid. This was completed in 1761.
The building was restored under the guidance of architect JM Solomon, and on 8 May 1917 it became the home of the Michaelis Art Collection. Donated by Sir Max Michaelis in 1914, the Michaelis collection consists of a world-renowned selection of Netherlandish art from the seventeenth-century Golden Age. There are works by Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruisdael, Anthony van Dyck and numerous others.
THE OLD TOWNHOUSE IS CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE
Over the years, the square has served as a slave market, a vegetable market, a parking lot and more recently, a flea market trading mainly African souvenirs, crafts and curios. Near the centre of the square is a hand operated pump used to bring clean water to the surface from an underground river that runs through the city.
During the apartheid era, Greenmarket Square was often the focus of political protests, due in part to its proximity to parliament, as well as the ethnicity of its traders and shoppers.