A late Gothic town hall on Wrocław's Market Square, built from the late 13th to the 16th century, now home to the Museum of Burgher Art and the Gallery of Famous Wrocławians.
Wrocław Town Hall is a late Gothic building standing at the south-eastern corner of Wrocław's Market Square, regarded as one of the best-preserved historic town halls in Poland and one of the city's principal architectural monuments.
Construction proceeded in several stages over about 250 years. The oldest part of the building was completed before 1299; between 1328 and 1333 a wing was added at the north-eastern corner, and between 1343 and 1357 the Court Chamber was built, with a chapel on the upper floor. Expansion on the southern side lasted from the 1470s until 1504, and the cellars of the southern range were finished in 1480. In 1558-1559 the Gothic spire of the tower was dismantled and a Renaissance one built in its place. The building was refurbished again in 1884-1891 (led by Karl Lüdecke) and in 1934-1936 (Rudolf Stein), and after the destruction of the Second World War it was thoroughly restored in 1949-1953.
The town hall's tower is 66 metres high. Its lower, square section reaches 32.80 metres and has a base about 7.70 metres on each side, while the upper, octagonal storeys measure 11.70 metres. A clock bell from 1368 hangs on the tower, the oldest in Poland, bearing a Latin inscription, while the clock itself was placed on the eastern facade in 1580. On 18 October 1536 the city's coat of arms, showing a lion, an eagle and St John the Evangelist, was placed on the building. The building has three visible facades, eastern, southern and western, with three projecting bays and richly decorated oriel windows.
The ground floor houses the former Burghers' Hall, now the Gallery of Famous Wrocławians, as well as the Council Chamber with inlaid panels from 1563, the Court Hall and the Bailiff's Chamber and Chancery. The upper floor holds the Great Hall, measuring 26.60 by 20.80 metres, the largest room in the building, the Princes' Hall, the former chapel of St John the Baptist and the Evangelist, the Bench Chamber with a Renaissance oriel window, the treasury, and the Council Elder's Chamber with a star vault from 1484-1485. Cells of the former prison also survive, named the Stork's Nest, the Cold Kitchen, the Empty Purse and Under the Green Oak.
The town hall's cellars house the Świdnica Cellar, a restaurant known to have existed since 1387, one of the oldest in Europe, made up of several rooms with barrel and groin vaults. Today the town hall houses a branch of the Wrocław City Museum, the Museum of Burgher Art. In the Gallery of Famous Wrocławians, opened on 24 May 1997 with seven busts, more than 30 further likenesses had been added by 2019. Every day a bugler plays the Wrocław bugle call from the terrace on the tower.
The town hall stands on the Market Square, right next to which are the Bear Cub Fountain and the Monument to Count Aleksander Fredro. A few minutes' walk from here is Plac Solny (Salt Square).
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