Old Town Hall (Schweinfurt)
The old town hall (also just: town hall ) of the city of Schweinfurt is located on the market (main market) in the old town and is a listed building . It is considered a brilliant achievement of the secular German Renaissance and is the main landmark of the city.
Building history
The building was erected from 1570 to 1572 as the town hall in the Renaissance style, as part of the reconstruction of the town after its destruction in the Second Margravial War in 1554. The architect was Nickel Hoffmann , one of the most important masters between the late Gothic and Renaissance in Central Germany. It survived the centuries largely undamaged, including the Second World War , in which part of the buildings in the surrounding old town were destroyed.
After the war, a large flight of stairs was added from the inner courtyard to the meeting room and registry office at the old town hall. With a railing that is filled in with natural stone in the form of the first letter of the city S , based on the example of the old railing above the eaves on the market side. On the evening of April 20, 1959, the roof of the Old Town Hall, which had survived the Second World War unscathed, was on fire. The east gable curved outwards and threatened to fall into Brückenstrasse. However, the fire services brought the fire, which was triggered by welding work, under control.
In the 1980s, the large cellar vaults with numerous ancillary rooms and intermediate stairs were restored and the Ratskeller restaurant opened.
Building description
The old town hall is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in southern Germany.
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Town hall balcony with coat of arms
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Town hall hall with sturgeon mural
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The former city dungeon is located in the basement next to the Ratskeller. On the ground floor there is a large vaulted hall, the former market hall and today's hall in the old town hall , where exhibitions take place. The porch on the market side with the ground floor passage Rathausbogen and the town hall tower is equipped with many figures on the renewed Renaissance elements on the roof gables by the Schweinfurt sculptor Heinrich Söller . On the town hall tower, two Schweinfurt city coats of arms hang in the claws of the double-headed eagle from the coat of arms of Emperor Maximilian II. On the east side, facing Brückenstrasse, there is a bay window .
In the building there is the town hall hall , where numerous festive events take place and which is known for its ornately carved columns and a Flemish tapestry from the 17th century.
The old and new town hall together enclose the inner courtyard .
Todays use
In the old town hall are the meeting room of the city council, the wedding hall of the registry office, the city pharmacy (founded in 1412) and the tourist information Schweinfurt 360 ° for the city and the district . The large Italian restaurant Aposto is now in the Ratskeller . From the balcony of the town hall, the Nuremberg Christ Child traditionally holds a prologue at the beginning of the Schweinfurt Christmas market for their first date away from home.
new town hall
In addition to the old town hall, the new town hall by Fred Angerer (1954–1958) was built as an extension on the area of town houses destroyed in the war . Since then, the historic building has often been referred to as the Old Town Hall . The design of the market square facade of the New Town Hall continued after completion of the shell with the help of a sledgehammer and trowel by repeatedly changing the size and position of windows until a finally satisfactory result was achieved. The large inner courtyard of the New Town Hall with a fountain is now part of a publicly accessible sequence of courtyards and squares. The New Town Hall was also placed under monument protection.
By far the largest part of the city administration is located in the New Town Hall and a further building next to it (popularly: Stadtkasse ), which will be replaced by a seven-storey successor building by 2022. The old and new town hall form a complex that takes up almost the entire street block between Markt, Brückenstraße, Judengasse and Metzgergasse.
See also
Web links
- City of Schweinfurt: the town hall
- Peter Hofmann: schweinfurtfuehrer.de/Sehensertes/Rathaus
- Peter Hofmann: schweinfurtfuehrer.de/Geschichte/The town hall fire in 1959
Individual evidence
- ^ Peter Hofmann: Schweinfurtführer / Rathausbrand 1959. Retrieved on January 4, 2019 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 2 ′ 40.8 ″ N , 10 ° 14 ′ 5.5 ″ E