It is an example of late Renaissance urban architecture and the work of such designers as F.A. Sebastini and J. Schubert.

History

The late Renaissance town hall was built in 1608 on the existing early mediaeval foundations. It had two decorative gables and a high tower with an entrance on the first floor and touching on the north façade. In 1774 the decoration of the town hall was entrusted to F.A. Sebastini and J. Schubert, also working together on other architecture projects in Głogówek. Sebastini, the author of, for example, magnificent frescoes in the local St Bartholomew Church, produces south wall paintings, today only known from written accounts. J. Schubert is the author of stuccowork on the tower façade and of the statues of St John of Nepomuk and St Florian placed on pedestals in the corner niches of the south façade. In 1880 the town hall was rebuilt. The lower part of the tower was incorporated into the building envelope and the decorative north gable was removed. The side façades received historicizing decorations and window frames with prominent pediments, cornices and vertical rustication belts. The decoration on the façades was removed in the interwar period completely.

During the warfare in 1945, the roof, south gable, side façades and tower were damaged to a varying degree. After WW2, in the years 1956-1957, restoration works were carried out and the town hall was rebuilt.

Description

Sitting in the heart of the market, the town hall was built on a rectangular plan, with the north tower incorporated in the building’s body and the main entrance in the east wall. The building has partial basement, two floors and a two-level loft. The tower is square in the bottom part to become octagonal in the upper levels. It has a panoramic porch and is covered with a two-level cupola with a pyramidal spire.

The corners of the façade are rusticated; the windows and doors have stone surrounds and profiling from about 2/3 of the height up. The floors are separated by a narrow cornice; a crowning cornice is seen under the eaves. The north gable façade is symmetrical to the central axis, with the dominating tower and stucco bas-relief presenting Justice with Saturn. The upper levels of the tower are separated by profiled cornices and rusticated in a manner imitating bossage. In the corners of the gable façade, there are wall niches with the statutes of saints - St John of Nepomuk and St Florian. The ground floor was converted during the interior upgrade around 1940; originally, it had three entrance portals. The characteristic gable with fine, Mannerist shape is highlighted with a massive cornice on consoles and a narrow eave. The surface of the gable is partitioned with subsequent cornices into four zones of different heights, filled with small pilasters and windows. Obelisk pinnacles rest on the edge of cornices. The east façade is an 8-axis design, with the main entrance with two steps; the west façade is a 7-axis design with an entrance to the cellars. The interior is partially upgraded and lacking any historical equipment.

The town hall interior is available during the office hours of the Głogówek Municipal Office; it is freely accessible from outside.

Compiled by Ewa Kalbarczyk-Klak, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 21.07.2014.

Bibliography

• Chrzanowski T., Głogówek, Wrocław 1977.
• Kosian A., Führer durch das schöne Oberglogau.
• Kozakiewiczowa H., Renesans i manieryzm w Polsce, Warszawa 1978.   
• Schnurpfeil H., Geschichte und Beschreibung der Stadt Oberglogau im Oberschlesien, Oberglogau 1860.
• „Schlesiche Geschichtblatter” 3/1997.   
• Studium urbanistyczne Głogówka, J.Grzegorczyk, B.Leszczyńska, Wrocław 1957, mps.