Kołobrzeg Town Hall

With its battlements, corner towers and red-brick walls it looks like a small castle, yet it was built from the start as the seat of the town council. Kołobrzeg Town Hall was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the most celebrated architect of 19th-century Prussia, and built in 1829–1832. It came through the 1945 battle for the town almost unscathed and today houses the Gallery of Contemporary Art.

History: a Prussian king pays for the rebuild

The medieval town hall was destroyed in 1807 during the siege of Kołobrzeg (then Kolberg) by Napoleon's troops. The impoverished town could not afford to rebuild for years – only after a petition in 1826 did King Frederick William III grant 20,000 thalers for a new building. Schinkel based his design on sketches by the crown prince, the future King Frederick William IV, and incorporated what was left of the old town hall. The building rests on 15th-century cellars, and one of those who worked on it was Ernst Friedrich Zwirner, later the master builder of Cologne Cathedral.

In 1864 the townspeople put up a statue of Frederick William III by Friedrich Drake in the courtyard. The building also housed the local court. After the Second World War, when Kołobrzeg became part of Poland, the statue disappeared and the Polish eagle replaced the Prussian one on the tower. The town hall has been a listed monument since 1964.

What to see

• The main façade – a two-storey, C-shaped building around an open courtyard, with a clock tower in the middle and battlements on the corners.
• The coats of arms – the Polish eagle and the arms of Kołobrzeg above the main portal.
• Adebar's Column – a 16th-century pillory set between the pillars on the north-east side. Legend links the carved mask on its capital to a town reeve called Jakub Adebar.
• Medieval traces – Gothic window openings on the north side, kept from the old town hall.
• Gallery of Contemporary Art – open since 1 February 1988 on the ground floor of the right wing. It has staged more than 200 exhibitions, including works by Władysław Hasior, Zdzisław Beksiński and Józef Szajna.

Interesting facts

The historic tower clock was taken down in 2014 and moved to the Patria Colbergiensis museum, where you can see it up close. The town hall is also the registry office, so you may come across a wedding and couples posing for photos in the courtyard.

Tripto tip

You can admire the building from outside at any time, and it is floodlit in the evening. The Gallery of Contemporary Art is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00–17:00, and closed on Sundays, Mondays, some holidays and while exhibitions are being changed (as of October 2026). Ticket prices are not listed online – call +48 94 352 43 48. Allow 30–45 minutes for the building and the current exhibition. The town hall stands at ul. Armii Krajowej 12, right next to the Gothic co-cathedral, so the two are easy to combine. In summer, park in one of the paid car parks in the centre.