The complex has not survived until today.

History

The fire that started in Kluczbork on 23-04-1737 destroyed a major part of the town. In 1752, the town hall was reconstructed. At that time, on its western side, twelve tenement houses with roof ridges set perpendicularly to the market square were built in two rows - only a small passage between the second and the third tenement house (counting from the town hall) was left. The buildings clustered by the town hall were used as huckster houses. The dwellers of Kluczbork called them “The Twelve Disciples”, because of their number and monumental character. Another fire (28-06-1925) destroyed to a significant extent the block of buildings at the town hall. Only the town hall and two nearest tenement houses survived at that time. The reconstruction works were completed in 1926, based on a design by Alfred Lenz. They were limited to the renovation of the preserved buildings in the Baroque style. In the place of burned tenement houses, a square was created with flower and shrub beds.

Description

Buildings no. 2 and 3 on the market square and the town hall form a compact block in the centre of the market square, shaped as a rectangle elongated along the east-west axis. The roof ridges of all three buildings are set perpendicularly to the market square and adjoin one another with the longer walls. They are of a three-bay type. Each of them has three storeys and is topped with a mansard roof.

The northern and the southern façades of house no. 3, adjoining tenement house no. 2 from the west, are four-axial. Their storeys are separated with cornices and feature rectangular window openings in profiled surrounds. On the first storey of the southern façade, there are keystones in the window casings. On the ground floor level, at the meeting point with the arcade, there is a four-sided buttress. In the northern façade, on the ground floor level on the right axis, there is a side entrance with stairs occupying the space within the thick wall. The rectangular door is installed in a profiled portal topped with a round arch. The northern and the southern gable are separated with a pronounced cornice with volutes. They are partitioned with pilasters supporting entablature and a concave-convex pediment. Between the pilasters, there are two rectangular window openings topped with triangular tympanums. In the northern pediment, there is a rectangular window in an oval blind panel.

On the ground floor of the western façade, there are semi-circular arcades with profiled surround with keystones. The arcades support a terrace with a balustrade articulated with lesenes. On the right side, under the arcade, there is an entrance to a restaurant. The central projecting part of the balustrade rests on two volute-shaped corbels. The façade in the second floor section has four axes, with a door on the second axis and a blind window on the fourth axis. Window and door openings are framed by profiled surrounds. The façade is topped with two dormers and a parapet wall formed as a triangular pediment in the middle, resting on profiled corbels and volutes. In the pediment, there is a stone relief depicting the town hall staff and “The Twelve Disciples”.

The building is accessible to visitors. It currently houses a restaurant.

compiled by Aleksandra Ziółkowska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 20-11-2015.

Bibliography

• Karta ewidencyjna zabytku architektury, Ratusz, oprac. Szot J., 2007, Archiwum Wojewódzkiego Urzędu Ochrony Zabytków w Opolu.
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, t. 7: Województwo opolskie, z. 4: Powiat kluczborski, oprac. Chrzanowski T., Ciechanowiecki A., Warszawa 1958, s. 24.
• Thullie C., Zabytki architektoniczne województw katowickiego i opolskiego. Przewodnik, Katowice 1969, s. 203.
• Zabytki Sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, red. zbiorowa, Warszawa 2006, s. 410.
• http: www.kluczbork.pl/podstrony/historia.php