The old town of a city or town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are many places throughout the world named old town (and this is sometimes construed as a proper noun and capitalized).
Historic city centers
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10Old Town of Torun
Torun is a city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population was 203,148 as of June 2014. Torun is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Torun is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
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10Old Town of Vilnius
The Old Town of Vilnius, one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Northern Europe, has an area of 3.59 square kilometres (887 acres). It encompasses 74 quarters, with 70 streets and lanes numbering 1487 buildings with a total floor area of 1,497,000 square meters.
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10Old Town of Warsaw
The Warsaw Old Town is the oldest part of the capital city. It is bounded by the Wybrzeze Gdanskie, along with the bank of Vistula river, Grodzka, Mostowa and Podwale Streets. It is one of the most prominent tourist attractions in Warsaw.
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10Old Town of Wismar
A unique representative of the Hanseatic League city type, with its Brick Gothic constructions and many patrician gable houses, Wismar has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2002, together with the historical core of Stralsund.
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10Old Town of Wittenberg
Wittenberg is home to numerous historical sites, as well as portraits and other paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Younger. On the doors of All Saints' Church, the Schlosskirche ("castle church", built in 1496–1506) Luther is said to have nailed his 95 theses in 1517.
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9Old Town of Zamosc
Old City of Zamosc is the oldest historic district of the city of Zamosc. It is one of World Heritage Sites in Poland (added in 1992). According to UNESCO, this monument value lies in it being "an outstanding example of a Renaissance planned town of the late 16th century, which retains its original layout and fortifications and a large number of buildings.
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10Old Town, Edinburgh
The Old Town is the name popularly given to the oldest part of Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh. The area has preserved much of its medieval street plan and many Reformation-era buildings. Together with the 18th-century New Town, it forms part of a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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10Pingyao County
Pingyao is a county in central Shanxi province in China. During the Qing Dynasty, Pingyao was a financial centre of China.
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10Port Arthur, Tasmania
Port Arthur is a small town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. Port Arthur is one of Australia's most significant heritage areas and an open-air museum.
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7Portuguese City of Mazagan (El Jadida)
The Portuguese City of Mazagan (El Jadida), one of the first settlements created in Africa by Portuguese explorers on the route to India, bears outstanding witness to the exchange of influences between European and Moroccan cultures from the 16th to the 18th centuries, which are evident in the architecture, technology and town planning.
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10Potosi
Potosi is a city and the capital of the department of Potosi in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world by elevation at a nominal 4,090 metres. For centuries, it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint.
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10Roros
Roros is a town and municipality in Sor-Trondelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The mining town of Roros is sometimes called Bergstaden which means "the mining town" due to its historical notoriety for copper mining.
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10Sanaa
Sanaa is the largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governorate, but forms the separate administrative district of "Amanat Al-Asemah".
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10Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela, commonly known as Santiago, is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain.
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10Segovia
Segovia is a city in the autonomous region of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital of Segovia Province.
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10Shibam
Shibam is a town in Yemen. With about 7,000 inhabitants, it is the seat of the Shibam District in the Hadhramaut Governorate. It is famous for its mudbrick-made high-rise buildings.
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5Shlisselburg
Shlisselburg is a town in Kirovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the head of the Neva River on Lake Ladoga, 35 km east of St. Petersburg. From 1944 to 1992, it was known as Petrokrepost.
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10Sintra Old Town
Sintra is known for its many 19th-century Romantic architectural monuments, which has resulted in its classification as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although its heritage in buildings and nature is the most visible face of the historic individuality of Sintra, a whole literary heritage has made the area a legendary reference in Portuguese culture.
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10Sucre
ucre is the constitutional capital of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department, and the 6th most populated city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of 2,810 meters. This relative high altitude gives the city a cool temperate climate year-round and much thinner air.
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10Tallinn Old Town (Kesklinn)
Kesklinn (Central Town) is one of the 8 administrative districts of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Tallinn Old Town (Kesklinn).
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10The Innere Stadt (Old Town) of Vienna
The Innere Stadt is the 1st municipal District of Vienna. The Innere Stadt is the Old Town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna.
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10Tipaza
Tipaza is the Berber-speaking city and capital of the Tipaza Province, Algeria. When it was part of the Roman Empire, it was called Tipasa. The modern town was founded in 1857, and is chiefly remarkable for its ancient ruins and sandy littoral.
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10Toledo
Toledo the capital of the province of Toledo and the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage and historical co-existence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures.
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10Ubeda
Ubeda is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia.
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10Valparaiso
Valparaiso is a major city, seaport, and educational center in the county or commune of Valparaiso, Chile.
