Melsungen town hall

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The Melsungen town hall viewed from the south

The town hall of Melsungen is a half-timbered house built in the 1560s in the center of the small town of Melsungen in North Hesse . The building is free on all sides and has three cantilevered upper floors. There are four polygonal corner turrets at the corners of the town hall . A central tower protrudes from the roof, in which twice a day, at 12 noon and 6 p.m., a carved wooden figure depicts the Melsung landmark, the Bartenwetzer .

history

The previous building of the Melsung town hall fell victim to a major fire on May 20, 1554, in which the brewery and twelve other buildings were also destroyed. For a long time it was assumed that today's town hall was already rebuilt two years after the fire, which was repeatedly wrongly repeated due to incorrect information in Wilhelm Dilich's Hessische Chronica from 1605. However, annual ring examinations on the beams showed that the trees felled for this must all have been felled in 1562/63, so that the town hall could only have been built afterwards.

Originally the entrance was on the south side. On the high ground floor to the right of the entrance there were two rooms one above the other: the wine tavern below and the council room above. The rest of the floor was a large hall and was used by traders on market days. The upper storey was divided by a wall running through the middle. One room was used as a wedding hall, the other as an anteroom and kitchen. The second floor was intended as a storage room, but was rarely used as such because the upper floor of the neighboring new brewery also served as a warehouse. In 1735, a partial expansion of the second floor began, where apartments for the city servant and the cellar host were set up.

Town hall with a slatted extension on the back

Several modifications took place in the 19th century. Further false ceilings were put in on the ground floor so that the high hall had to give way. The new premises were necessary because the landgrave officials also wanted to use the building. In 1825/26 the external appearance of the house changed because it was completely plastered so that the half-timbering disappeared. In 1866 the brewery at the back of the town hall was torn down, so that a large open area was created, which created space for further construction work: in 1884/85 the town hall received an extension there, which cost 285 marks and 14 pfennigs, and a staircase and more Contained rooms. Today this extension is slated .

The last major renovation was made in 1927/28 when the plaster was removed and the half-timbered structure came out again. The entrance, which had meanwhile been moved to the west side of the building, returned to the south portal. In order to create a large entrance hall at this point, the rooms of the council chamber and wine tavern from the time of the building were broken out. In addition, the roof turret , which had previously stood on the south gable side, was moved to the center of the roof and the Bartenwetzer was used as a Melsungen landmark.

Today parts of the Melsung city administration are still in the building. Among other things, the main office and the personnel office are housed there.

literature

  • Gerd Fenner: The town hall in Melsungen . In: District Committee of the Schwalm-Eder District (Ed.): Yearbook Schwalm-Eder District 1987. Spangenberg 1987, pp. 86–91.
  • Gerd Fenner: The town hall in Melsungen: history and building history . Melsungen 1987.

Web links

Commons : Rathaus Melsungen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ City of Melsungen: city ​​tour . Last accessed: December 3, 2013.
  2. ^ Gerd Fenner: The town hall in Melsungen . In: District Committee of the Schwalm-Eder District (ed.): Yearbook Schwalm-Eder District 1987. Spangenberg 1987, pp. 86–91, here: 88.
  3. ↑ a b Gerd Fenner: The town hall in Melsungen . In: District Committee of the Schwalm-Eder District (ed.): Yearbook Schwalm-Eder District 1987. Spangenberg 1987, pp. 86–91, here: 90.
  4. ^ Gerd Fenner: The town hall in Melsungen . In: District Committee of the Schwalm-Eder District (ed.): Yearbook Schwalm-Eder District 1987. Spangenberg 1987, pp. 86–91, here: 91.

Coordinates: 51 ° 7 ′ 52.9 ″  N , 9 ° 32 ′ 38.1 ″  E