Market Square and Town Hall in Namysłów

Every day around midday a fanfare for three trumpets sounds from the tower of Namysłów town hall. Built in 1374–1378, with a 57-metre tower, the town hall stands in the middle of the square of the town where a peace treaty ending a Polish–Bohemian war was signed in 1348. Namysłów is little known but has a compact old town: besides the town hall there are walls with the Kraków Gate, Gothic churches and a former ducal castle.

History: the town of the Peace of Namysłów

Namysłów is first reliably mentioned on 19 June 1233 and received town rights around 1249 from Duke Henry III the White. In 1341 Duke Bolesław III pledged it to the Polish king Casimir the Great. On 22 November 1348 the Peace of Namysłów was signed here, formally ending the Polish–Bohemian war of 1345–1348 without changing any borders.

The town hall itself was built by master mason Piotr in 1374–1378, and the tower by master Piotr Tynetcz in 1381–1389. Cloth halls and bread stalls were added in the early 15th century, and in the 17th century the east façade was given Renaissance forms. After fires and alterations, the building was restored and its Gothic appearance brought back in 2001–2002 under Professor Edmund Małachowicz.

What to see

• The town hall: brick-built on a roughly L-shaped plan. The tower is square below and octagonal above, with late Gothic pinnacles at the transition and a Baroque copper-clad onion dome.
• The burghers’ houses around the square and the green spaces on it.
• The Kraków Gate with its tower and sections of the town walls.
• The Church of Saints Peter and Paul and the Gothic Franciscan friary.
• The ducal castle of the 14th century, built on a round mound. It has belonged to the brewery for more than a hundred years, so it is usually seen from outside. A late Renaissance well of around 1600 stands in its courtyard.

Tripto tip

The square is open at all times. The town hall houses offices and a pub on the ground floor, so its interiors are not visited like a museum. Come before noon and stay for the bugle call played daily just after 12:00 – the tune for three trumpets was composed by Eugeniusz Odoj. Allow 45–90 minutes for the square, the walls, the Kraków Gate and a look at the castle.