A representative example of an early modern public building in Silesia.

History

The town hall was originally built back in 1546 or 1549, with the tower only being completed in 1559. Having been destroyed by fire on a number of occasions, the town hall has subsequently been reconstructed, with the entire process only being completed in 1697. After another fire damaged the building in 1768, the town hall was rebuilt in years 1774-96. In 1805, the town hall was extended upwards, receiving the second storey; a redesign of the building followed in 1867. The town hall underwent renovation works in years 1811, 1949, 1960 and ca. 2000. In years 1879-80, a new town hall edifice was erected north of the original building, replacing the former cloth and bread market hall and linked with the old town hall by means of a connecting section.

Description

The building is located in the town centre, in the middle of the market square. Designed on a rectangular floor plan, it is a two-storey brick and stone structure with a converted attic. It features a compact outline with a clipped-gable mansard roof with dormers and low gables flanked with gently sloping, concave edges. At the south-western corner stands a tall, massive tower, its shaft maintaining a square plan up to the level of the building’s roof; the upper section of the shaft is octagonal in shape and terminates with a terrace surrounding a narrower top section crowned with an ornate cupola with lantern, also designed on an octagonal plan. The building’s façades are covered with plaster and partitioned with decorative framing, horizontal plaster strips and lesenes. In the southern section of the town hall there is a large gateway topped with a semicircular arch and framed with a plaster surround with keystone. The main entrance is located in the eastern part of the building, at the first floor level; it is preceded by two opposing flights of quarter-landing stairs in a mirrored, fan-like arrangement. The entrance is framed with a broad, plain surround surmounted by a semi-circular tympanum incorporating the von Zedlitz and von Schaffgotsch family crests. The window openings are rectangular in shape, arranged in a regular pattern, designed in a manner similar to that of the entrance and equipped with window sills. The dormer windows are topped with segmental arches and adorned with profiled stone surrounds with keystones. The walls of the tower feature a smooth plaster finish, with the heraldic cartouches incorporating the coats of arms of the von Zedlitz and von Schaffgotsch families embedded in the southern wall at the height of over 10 metres above the ground. The tower windows are small, rectangular in shape and feature slightly splayed reveals. The ground floor interiors follow a two-bay layout, with a spacious vestibule positioned alongside the shorter axis of symmetry; the ground floor rooms feature vaulted ceilings of the groin type or of the barrel type, with lunettes. The building is linked to the new town hall to the north by means of a two-storey connecting section made of brick.

The interiors may be explored during the opening hours of the Municipal Office.

compiled by Piotr Roczek, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Wrocław, 27-04-2015.

Bibliography

• Słownik Geografii Turystycznej Sudetów. Vol. 2 Pogórze Izerskie, Vol. II, M. Staff (ed.), Wrocław 2003, pp. 57-58,
• Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, Warsaw 2006, p. 574.