Old Town Hall

About

The Old Town Hall (Czech: Staroměstská radnice) in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, is one of the city's most visited monuments. It is located in Old Town Square.

In 1338 the councillors of the Old Town bought a large patrician house from the Volflin family and adapted it for their purposes. Over the following centuries the original Town Hall building largely disappeared as a result of renovations and expansion of the building; one external remnant of the original structure still visible today is the Gothic stone portal with mouldings on the western side of the building.

The burghers of the Old Town extended the original Town Hall towards the west by buying the adjoining house, and construction began of a stone tower on a square plan. The tower, which was the highest in the city in the Middle Ages, was completed in 1364, and has been largely unchanged since then.

The Town Hall is architecturally unusual, because it is constructed from many different smaller houses. The expansion continued in 1458 when Mikeš house was added to the west side. The Council Chamber in the east wing was vaulted with a net vault, supported by two pillars, at the end of the 15th century.

The Gothic "Cockerel" house was bought in 1835 and the "Minute" house was sold to the town council for the extension of the Town Hall in 1896. Mikeš house was rebuilt in the Neo-Renaissance style in 1879–1880, according to designs by Antonín Baum. This wing was destroyed in last days of World War II during the Prague uprising. Many architectural competitions were held during the 20th century, with the intention of finding the right architectonic design for the expansion and reconstruction of the Old Town Hall, but all of the competitions either failed to produce a winner, or the winning projects were not built.

The architectural development of the Old Town Hall in the Middle Ages was far from completed after the completion of the tower. Construction was interrupted due to the Hussite movement (1419–1434). In 1458 another house was bought on the west side, enabling extensive modifications to the interior of the building. New halls were established in the south wing, but only the council room on the upper floor was preserved in its original appearance.

Internal modifications reflected in the external reconstruction work can still be seen on the south facade. The reconstruction of the entrance hall on the ground floor of Volflin house terminated in the construction of a new portal in the Late Gothic style, the predominant style of urban architecture in the Czech Lands for over 100 years. The Gothic arch of the portal has archivolts rich in stone ornaments. Decorated brackets support the outer arch which is a typical late-Gothic ogee arch crowned by an imposing finial. The brackets on either side of the portal terminate in slender pinnacles. The main structure dates from the end of the 15th century, but the wooden double door itself dates from 1652.

The window on the left of the portal was completed a few years later and retained the architectural style. The builder eschewed the traditional Gothic arch in favour of a rectangular window, adorning the thickness of the walls with panelled pilasters. A moulded stone cross divides the window into four lights, the upper two of which are decorated with the armorial bearing of the Old Town of Prague and the Czech lion. Between and slightly above them are the symbol "W", representing the royal initial of the Bohemian king Vladislaus II of Hungary (1456–1516) of the Jagiellon dynasty. Rich stone vegetable decorations adorn the top of the window.

The window in the south facade dates from the 1520s, and bears traces of an early Renaissance style. The central window itself is the only original part, as the two smaller wings were added in 1731. It has a high moulded cornice with plastic ornamentation. Brackets support panelled pilasters terminating in capitals on which rests the architrave with the inscription "Praga caput regni" (Prague, the capital of the kingdom). The window is surmounted by a semicircular tympanum with the armorial bearings of the Old Town of Prague. Generally speaking the lateral windows are kept in the same style as the original Renaissance main window, but the canopies above the pilaster, in the Gothic style, are an exception. The Renaissance style is also apparent in another window situated just above the Gothic portal of the Volflin house from the 16th century.

The extensive reconstruction of the Old Town Hall at the turn of the 15th and 16th century included the erection of the east wing adjoining the north wall of the tower. A monumental building was constructed during the Late Gothic period. There was a council chamber with a net vault that gave the room an atmosphere of spaciousness.

The original structure was badly damaged by modifications at the end of the 18th century, and finally disappeared completely, when during the 1840s a new wing was built in a Neo-Gothic style. The original Gothic appearance of the east wing has only been preserved in old engravings.

The reconstruction also affected the historical core of the entire Town Hall complex. The interior of all three houses forming the south wing was reconstructed and Mikeš house, the third in the row, was renovated from the outside as well. Two Neo-Gothic gables and oriel were added to the facade and the architect Gruber adjusted the entrance by adding two semi-circular arches. Further renovations in 1879 gave the facade a Neo-Renaissance appearance and two high windows were added on the second floor, one of them bearing the inscription "Dignitatis memores—ad optima intenti" (Bearing in mind your dignity—do your best) on the architrave.

The destruction by fire of the East and the North Wing

The east wing and the addition of a further north wing was carried out during the reconstruction in the 19th century. Both these wings were destroyed by fire during the Prague uprising in May 1945 and only the surviving torso adjoining the tower gives an indication of how this part of the Old Town hall looked.

In 1835 the south wing was further extended by the addition of a fourth house, "the Cockerel house", bought by the Town Council that year. In this very old building the Romanesque hall from the beginning of the 13th century has been preserved, and on the first and second floor are Late-Gothic halls with Renaissance ceilings. The facade was renovated in the first half of the 19th century in Empire style.

At the end of the 19th century, other buildings were added to the Town Hall block, including the "Minute" house, an originally Gothic house dating from the beginning of the 15th century, and decorated at the beginning of the 17th century by a series of sgraffito designs representing classical and biblical themes. Most of the later modifications affected only the interior of the house, and respected the historical exterior of the south wing.

In 1338 the councillors of the Old Town bought a large patrician house from the Volflin family and adapted it for their purposes. Over the following centuries the original Town Hall building largely disappeared as a result of renovations and expansion of the building; one external remnant of the original structure still visible today is the Gothic stone portal with mouldings on the western side of the building.

The burghers of the Old Town extended the original Town Hall towards the west by buying the adjoining house, and construction began of a stone tower on a square plan. The tower, which was the highest in the city in the Middle Ages, was completed in 1364, and has been largely unchanged since then.

The Town Hall is architecturally unusual, because it is constructed from many different smaller houses. The expansion continued in 1458 when Mikeš house was added to the west side. The Council Chamber in the east wing was vaulted with a net vault, supported by two pillars, at the end of the 15th century.

The Gothic "Cockerel" house was bought in 1835 and the "Minute" house was sold to the town council for the extension of the Town Hall in 1896. Mikeš house was rebuilt in the Neo-Renaissance style in 1879–1880, according to designs by Antonín Baum. This wing was destroyed in last days of World War II during the Prague uprising. Many architectural competitions were held during the 20th century, with the intention of finding the right architectonic design for the expansion and reconstruction of the Old Town Hall, but all of the competitions either failed to produce a winner, or the winning projects were not built.