Münster´s landmark is the "Rathaus" (Town Hall), a Gothic building with a high gable dating from the mid-14th century. After being completely destroyed in the war it was rebuilt as a near-replica of the original, in the wake of the initiative taken by private businessmen and with the aid of donations made by the people of Münster in the 1950s.

The most important room in the historic "Rathaus" is the "Friedenssaal" (Hall of Peace), where the Spanish-Dutch peace treaty was signed on 15 May 1648 and the Thirty Years War was ended by the peace of Westphalia on 24 October 1648. "Pax optima rerum" - or "Nothing is better than peace" - was the guided thought for the peace negotiations immortalized on a cast-iron oven plate.

The series of events entitled "The Peace of Westphalia" started up in 2006, with the "Friedenswoche" (Peace Week) in October recalling Münster´s special responsibility as a city of peace.

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"Burg Vischering" (Vischering Castle) is one of more than 100 moated castles located in the  Münsterland, the region surrounding Münster. Münster's nobility lived in these stately residences during the summer months and returned to their mansions in the city in wintertime.

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The "St. Clemens-Kirche" (St. Clemens' Church) is an important work of Baroque by Johann Conrad Schlaun and was once a part of a monastery and local hospital and forms a part of the Münster's "Barockinsel" (Baroque Island). It was built by the Prince Bishop Clemens August from 1745 - 1753.

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A comfortable walk all around Münster

Münster's promenade - a boulevard underneath lime-trees

Where once were the city walls, a green belt stretches around the old town today. The promenade with its double-row lime-tree avenue is car-free and an important transportation corridor for all those traveling by foot, bicycle or inline skates.

Here, the big flea market takes place five times a year from the "Hindenburgplatz" (Hindenburg Square) to the "Aasee" (Aa Lake) direction, attracting the eager to buy as well as sightseers from near and far beyond the Münsterland region.

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Since the Middle Ages, the "Prinzipalmarkt" (Principal Market) has been Münster's main shopping street. 

The tall, narrow houses with their steep gables and arched arcades on massive columns were originally built by wealthy investors. Generations of merchants have established their businesses along this remarkable street since the late 12th century.

The "Prinzipalmarkt" is the oldest shopping street in Münster and is the center of the Old Town. Even during the Middle Ages, the arcades made shopping possible in any weather condition.

Destroyed in a bombing raid in 1943, the houses along the "Prinzipalmarkt" were rebuilt in the old style reflecting the street's quaint, old architecture and historic atmosphere. The Gothic gables of the Town Hall and the Renaissance façade of the "Stadtweinhaus" (City Wine House) are almost exactly as they were during medieval times.

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The three-aisled "Petrikirche" (St. Peter's Church) from the period between Gothic and early Renaissance features a richly decorated north portal in the Renaissance style. Originally a church of the Jesuits, it is today the school church of the Paulinum, the oldest humanistic grammar school in Germany.

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More than 30 farm houses and other structures - windmill, bake house, smithy, smoke house, horse-driven grinding mill, village store, storage sheds, bee hives and barns - have been transported from their original locations throughout Westphalia to this village-style open-air museum on the shores of the "Aasee" (Aa Lake). Visitors to the "Mühlenhof Freilichtmuseum" (Mühlenhof Open-Air Museum) can get an excellent idea of life on the farm, traditional customs and crafts.

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