THE OLD TOWN HALL
Introduction
The Old Town Hall stood on the former Brottmarkt, the Bread Market, in the very centre of the newly established town. It was built in 1517 as the Schlik manor court, serving as an administrative and economic centre of the estate. Its location on the main marketplace reflects the importance attached to this site by the founders of the town.
History
In 1520 the building was purchased by the town and converted into a town hall. It was a Gothic structure with a ground floor built of quarry stone and a half-timbered upper storey. The ground floor was occupied by a large main hall with a carved and painted ceiling, serving both representative and administrative purposes.
The building functioned as a town hall for approximately ten years. On the Monday after the Feast of the Holy Cross in 1531, the town purchased the Schlik town house to serve as a new town hall, rendering the original building redundant for administrative use. In 1544 the upper floor was converted into a residence for the town physician, while an inn was established on the ground floor.
Later the property passed into private hands. In the mid-nineteenth century the building was divided into two house numbers (485 and 486), indicating both structural and ownership division.
After the restoration of Czechoslovakia in 1945, the town considered purchasing the building, restoring it and establishing a branch of the municipal museum there. These plans were thwarted by a fire on 6 December 1946, which destroyed the structure.
Description and Surviving Remains
The building represented a typical example of early urban architecture, combining a stone ground floor with a half-timbered upper storey. Its Gothic character was particularly evident in the layout of the main hall and in the decoration of its ceiling.
To this day, the massive cellars have been preserved and were rediscovered in 2016 during modifications of today’s Slovany Square. These underground spaces represent the only physical remains of the former town hall and constitute an important archaeological testimony to the earliest building phase of the town.
The Adjacent Tower – Hühnerhängerhaus
Next to the town hall stood a half-timbered tower housing a torture chamber and the municipal jail, known as the Hühnerhängerhaus. In appearance it was compared to the Špalíček complex in Cheb. On its upper floor there was a projecting latrine, beneath which a manure heap was located, reflecting the hygienic and operational conditions of municipal administration at the time.
Restoration and Present
The Old Town Hall building no longer exists. Nevertheless, it remains an important part of the town’s history as one of its earliest administrative structures. The surviving cellars recall the beginnings of municipal self-government and the transformation of the town centre over five centuries.
Photogallery: http://mipalfi.rajce.idnes.cz/Stara_radnice/
