Town Hall and Museum of the Two Nations, Bielsk Podlaski

The yellow town hall in the middle of the square in Bielsk Podlaski looks modest, but it has nearly 250 years and many lives behind it: it has been a court, a guardhouse, shops, offices and a library. Instead of the usual weather vane, a tin insect with the date 1779 perches on top of its clock turret. Since 1984 the building has housed the Museum of the Two Nations – a branch of the Podlaskie Museum in Białystok devoted to the history of the town and its surroundings.

History: a gift from Izabela Branicka

The town hall was funded by Izabela Branicka, district governor of Bielsk and wife of Hetman Jan Klemens Branicki, owner of nearby Białystok. It was designed by Jan Sękowski, the Branickis' court architect. Work began in 1776 and was completed in early 1780. The brick town hall most likely replaced an earlier wooden one destroyed by fire.

The building is simple and elegant: a rectangle with chamfered corners, a hipped roof covered with S-shaped tiles and a small clock tower with an obelisk-shaped spire. In the first half of the 19th century a colonnaded arcade was added to the front. The Germans removed it in 1942, changing the windows and upper-floor rooms at the same time. Later conservation work restored the original appearance.

In the 19th century the building housed a district court, a guardhouse and several shops. After the Second World War it was used by the town council, the registry office, a notary and the library. The museum opened here on 15 October 1984.

What to see in the museum

• Postcards and photographs of 20th-century Bielsk – the core of the collection is interwar views by Z. Wilk and M. Witkowski, complemented by communist-era photos, Christmas cards and wedding portraits.
• 72 documents of the Lithuanian Ecclesiastical Consistory in Vilnius from 1869 – among the most valuable items in the archive.
• Folk art from the Bielsk area: painted Easter eggs, baskets, textiles and embroidered towels, plus farm tools, vessels and parts of traditional dress.
• Work by contemporary artists connected with Bielsk.
• In a niche on the upper floor a painting of a white eagle with a golden crown on a red background survives from the period after the First World War.

Did you know?

• The name "Museum of the Two Nations" refers to the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the history of Bielsk blends Polish, Ruthenian and Jewish culture – Catholic and Orthodox churches still stand side by side in town.
• The town still has its Castle Hill, a medieval fortified mound. The wooden castle on top was struck by lightning and burned in 1564, during a meeting of Lithuanian magnates, while King Sigismund Augustus was staying in town.

Tripto tip

The town hall is at ulica Mickiewicza 45, right in the centre, so it is easy to combine with the basilica, the Orthodox churches and the former Carmelite church – all within a few hundred metres. Allow 45–60 minutes for the exhibition. Check opening hours and ticket prices on the Podlaskie Museum website before you go. Look up at the tower – the insect with the date 1779 is easiest to spot on a sunny day from the square.