Grodków Town Hall

The tower of Grodków town hall survived the fire that destroyed most of the town in 1833, and seven years later a new building was raised around it. Today the late Neoclassical town hall of 1840 stands in the middle of the market square of this small town in the Opole region, with a bust of Józef Elsner, the Grodków-born teacher of Frédéric Chopin, in front of the entrance. It is a good starting point for a walk around an old town still ringed by fragments of medieval walls.

History: three town halls on one spot

The first seat of the town council was probably built in the 14th or 15th century and lasted until a fire in 1549. It was rebuilt in 1551–1557, when Grodków belonged to the bishops of Wrocław. The tower was completed in 1577 and received its cupola in 1668. The great fire of 1833 destroyed the building, but the tower survived. The present town hall was designed by Philippi, an architect from Opole, who kept the tower's Gothic-Renaissance appearance.

The building was damaged in the fighting of 1945 and rebuilt in 1948. The entire old town with its medieval street layout is a listed monument, and the town hall itself has been on the heritage register since 1966.

What to see

• The tower, about 36 m high and visible from many parts of town.
• A Gothic portal at ground level, a relic of the first town hall.
• A plaque with the coat of arms of Bishop Balthasar von Promnitz in the entrance hall, recording the rebuilding in the mid-16th century.
• The bust of Józef Elsner in front of the main entrance.
• 18th- and 19th-century townhouses around the square, including the former Three Crowns Inn on the north-west corner.

Interesting facts

Józef Elsner, a composer and teacher, was Chopin's main teacher and mentor in Warsaw. Grodków made him patron of its town and municipal public library, whose main branch is housed in the town hall. The first town walls were built in 1296–1301 under Duke Bolko I of Świdnica, using glacial boulders gathered from the fields. The best-preserved sections are the tall Ziębice Gate and Lewin Gate towers from the 14th century, plus the Prison Tower.

Tripto tip

The town hall is a working municipal building, home to the registry office, council offices and the library, so there is no tour route and no tickets. You can view the façade at any time and step into the entrance hall with the Promnitz plaque during office and library opening hours. Allow 20–30 minutes for the square, or about 1.5 hours if you add the walls, St Michael the Archangel's Church and the ruins of the Neo-Romanesque Protestant church of 1845. On Krakowska Street there is also a Dutch windmill and an old water tower. Grodków lies about 20 km south of Brzeg and about 45 km west of Opole; a car is the most convenient way to get there.