The second Town Hall in the history of Olsztyn, erected at the beginning of the 20th century. It houses the seat of the city authorities: the Municipal Office and the President of the City of Olsztyn. Since 1989 the building has been listed in the Register of Historical Monuments.

 

History

From the Middle Ages the Town Council used to gather in the Old Town Hall. In 1911 a decision was made to build a new Town Hall instead of yet another extension of the old building. The new edifice was to be erected in a site of a closed cemetery, in the very centre of the Upper Suburb. The town hall was designed by a city architect Max Bolt. Paul Christian Zerach, a successor of Bold, was in charge of construction works, which were conducted by Albert Dylewski from Olsztyn. A cornerstone was laid on 31 October 1912. In February 1915 clerks started moving in while the finishing works were still going on. The clock opening in the tower were disguised with clock faces. The clockwork was fitted in 1923. The Town Hall has been a seat of the City Council since 1915. In the Polish times the President began to administer the city. Inside there are some pre- war decorative elements preserved such as: a head of a Greek soldier or fluted columns. Another column is decorated with antique motifs. On the ground floor hall, in a niche, we can see a work by Bolesław Wolski, depicting historical monuments of Olsztyn.

 

Architectural description

The Town Hall consists of three three- storeyed wings, a tower and an annex added from the West in the 20s of the 20th century. The gables of wings are decorated with volutes. The Town Hall is plastered, built on a stone socle. The main entrance is located in the tower, rising above the southern wing. A richly decorated, semicircular portal has a keystone with a sandstone cartouche. In the cartouche there is the coat of arms Olsztyn valid at the time when the Town Hall was being constructed. The portal also contains coffers with rosettes and stone fountains in the shape of bearded heads. Over the portal there is a terrace with a balustrade. A square tower with bevelled corners is topped with a narrower tower structure with a double cupola and a spire. In the square in front of the main entrance there is a sculpture entitled ”Maternity”, designed in 1978 by Kazimierz Zieliński. From the East side the longest middle wing is decorated with two bays with reliefs depicting four elements: fire, water, earth and air. Between the windows of the Session Hall you can see statues personifying civic virtues: Justice, Wisdom, Beauty, Strength and Diligence. South – East corner is decorated with a so called ”Russian Bay”. Once it was filled with reliefs by Max Krause, showing a victory of Germans over the Russian during World War I. The reliefs were then removed and replaced with copper screens by Bolesław Wolski. In the central part of the wing, on the ground floor there is a well - preserved entrance portal leading to the lodgings of a burgomaster. A semicircular portal is flanked by a statue of a male with a book in his hand and a woman with a basket and a purse. In a cartouche you can see a child playing with a rooster. In the northern wing, where there used to be a police station, in the keystone of the portal there is a sculpted bearded male head and in the socle – a head of a lion.

 

Interesting facts

- since 1969 the Olsztyn chimes have played the hymn of Olsztyn entitled ”O Warmio moja miła” (composed by Feliks Nowowiejski; words by Maria Paruszewska). Pre-war chimes (in the Town Hall between 1930 and 1943) were melted down to serve military purposes. - the Town Hall tower was the place where a former president of Olsztyn Czesław Jerzy Małkowski was supposed to take sexual advantage of women. Since then the tower has been inaccessible for visitors.- In 1916 Paul Emil Gabel from Elbląg drew the New Town Hall of Olsztyn. In his picture he hid the holes in the tower with clock faces quite unlike the present ones.- clock faces are decorated in the corners with 12 signs of Zodiac.

 

Practical info

- free parking lot for coaches – 250 m. away (Nowowiejskiego Street)- the interior can be visited during the office hours of the Municipal Office - free toilet inside- sightseeing time- around 45 min.

 

Bibliography

Piechocki S., Ratusz w Olsztynie, Olsztyn 2001Rzempołuch A., Architektura i urbanistyka Olsztyna 1353-1953, Olsztyn 2005

 

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