Stargard Town Hall

The gable of Stargard's town hall looks like stone lace: stepped, divided by cornices into five tiers and filled with tracery of interlocking circles and pointed arches. Behind this façade stands one of the oldest monuments in town, whose outer walls, up to ground-floor level, go back to a 13th-century merchants' hall. Every day at 12:00 a bugle call sounds from the building.

History: from merchants' hall to council seat

Stargard received its town charter from Duke Barnim I in 1253, and again in 1278 under Lübeck law. According to the National Heritage Board, a merchants' house was probably built here as early as the 1260s, with a large two-aisled hall whose ceiling rested on alternating wooden and brick posts. At the end of the 14th century the building gained an upper floor: the merchants' hall stayed on the ground floor, while upstairs came the council chamber, courtroom, mayor's office, chancery, archive and treasury. The main façade was turned west, towards the market square.

A fire in 1540 destroyed more than a hundred buildings in town, including the town hall. Rebuilding was completed in 1569 in a style between Gothic and Renaissance: stone columns with twisted shafts went into the ground-floor hall, and the façade received a new gable with rich tracery. Another fire in 1635 brought an early Baroque scrolled gable on the east side. In 1896–1897 the town hall was restored by the local architect D. Deneke.

Destruction and rebuilding

In 1945 about 75% of the town hall was destroyed, with mainly the outer walls surviving. Work began in 1947 with clearing the rubble, the west gable was reconstructed in 1949, and after a break the rebuilding was completed in 1957–1961 to a design by the engineer F. Dzierżanowski of the state conservation workshops in Gdańsk. The entire façade decoration was recreated from drawings and photographs, but the interior was given a completely new layout.

What to look for

• The west gable facing the square, with tracery in five tiers. The townspeople liked the new 16th-century decoration so much that two houses with similar gables soon followed.
• The pointed-arch portal with moulded reveals, set off-centre in the second bay from the south.
• Windows with curtain arches on the upper floor and in the gable.
• The late Renaissance scrolled gable on the ul. Kazimierza Wielkiego side.
• The clock on the front gable, installed in June 2000 and weighing 60 kg, strikes the hours and half-hours and is synchronised with the atomic time signal from Frankfurt am Main.

Tripto tip

The town hall stands on the east side of the Old Town Market Square, where ul. Kramarska joins it; to the south it adjoins an 18th-century guardhouse that now belongs to the museum. It houses the town council and the wedding hall, and the heritage board notes that it is open during office hours. The façade is best seen from the square; to hear the bugle call by Waldemar Cieślak, be there before 12:00. 15–20 minutes is enough.