Zduny Town Hall

The low, white town hall with a red roof and a little clock tower stands in the middle of the market square of the former town of Zduny Niemieckie ("German Zduny"). It was built in 1684, funded by Rafał Leszczyński, governor (voivode) of Kalisz, and it still serves the town today, housing a cultural centre, a café and a bank.

History: a town made of three

Zduny received its town charter in 1267. During the Thirty Years' War, Protestant refugees from Silesia – mostly weavers – poured into the town, which lies right on the border between Silesia and Greater Poland. For them the owner, Piotr Sieniuta, founded a separate town: Zduny Niemieckie, also called New Zduny. A third town, Sieniutowo, followed in 1646, and in 1772 all three were merged. By the late 18th century Zduny was an important cloth-making centre. The town hall is a reminder of the market square of German Zduny, which is now the town's central square.

Architecture

It is a single-storey brick building under a three-sided hipped roof of red tiles. Along the façade runs an arcade resting on five columns. On the east side, above a 19th-century extension, rises a Baroque clock tower on a square plan, topped by a cupola with a lantern. The building is listed as a historic monument: a town hall from 1684, extended in the 19th century.

Good to know

For two decades between the World Wars, Zduny lay right on the German border – the frontier ran only about 1 km from the town centre. Around the market square there are also 18th-century houses, and ul. Łacnowa has a whole street of old half-timbered homes.

Tripto tip

Allow 15–20 minutes for the town hall and the square. Drop into the café inside the town hall and walk along ul. Łacnowa with its half-timbered houses. Zduny lies about 7 km from Krotoszyn, so it fits easily into a trip around southern Greater Poland.