Krotoszyn Town Hall

Above Krotoszyn's market square rises a tower crowned by a baroque cupola with two lanterns, carrying a clock from 1897. The town hall was built in 1689, burned in a great town fire, came back in baroque form and at the end of the 19th century put on a new, neo-Renaissance costume. It is still a working building today: the Registry Office and part of the town council are based here, and there is a restaurant inside its walls.

History: three lives of one town hall

The brick town hall was built in 1689 on the initiative of the town's then owner Franciszek Zygmunt Gałecki and Mayor Jan Dobrowolski. In 1774 it burned down in a fire that swept the town. Reconstruction in baroque forms was completed by 1777, and the decorative cupola of the tower dates from that time. In 1898–1899 an extra storey was added and the elevations were reshaped in German neo-Renaissance style, which defines the building's look today. The town's walking guide, prepared with the Regional Museum in Krotoszyn, simply calls it a striking town hall from the second half of the 17th century, rebuilt at the end of the 19th.

What to see

• The tower above the south elevation — square in its lower part and octagonal higher up, with an observation deck and a baroque cupola with two lanterns.
• The 1897 clock on the tower.
• The three-storey building with its broken-up outline, standing in the middle of the square.
• 18th-century interiors — according to the regional heritage catalogue, several rooms from that period survive, including a hall with a cross vault resting on a single column.

Tripto tips

The market square has kept the shape it had when the town was founded, and its large size goes back to the fairs and weekly markets held here until the mid-20th century. View the town hall from several sides of the square, as the tower rises above the south elevation. The interiors are council offices, so you see them on official business or when visiting the "Ratuszowa" restaurant. A quarter of an hour is enough for the building itself, but it makes a good starting point for a walk: a few minutes away stand the wooden church of Sts Fabian and Sebastian and the late-Renaissance parish church of St John the Baptist from 1592–1597.