The Old Town Hall

The old Town Hall was built over a period of more than 100 years. The earliest part (from 1410) overlooks the Schmiedestrasse (Blacksmith Street), the later wing next to the market was erected on the foundations of the 13th century trade hall. The adjacent wing in the Koebelinger Str. is called the "Chemists' Wing ("Apothekenflügel"), because it was the location of the Town Hall's pharmacy. This wing was later rebuilt in Italian Romanesque style, after a citizen's "action group" led by a well known neo-Gothic architect, Conrad Wilhelm Hase, managed to save the entire building from demolition in 1844. Hase was subsequently commissioned to renovate the remaining wings in their original style of 1500, with its exceptional gothic gables and the ornamental frieze.

Amongst the portraits of the princes and coats-of-arms it features the "Luderziehen", a popular game from the Middle-Ages, a kind of "Tug of War" with the opponents using just their little fingers instead of the rope (a similar game called "Fingerhakeln" is still a firm part of the south German folklore). This marvellous picture above the outer right arched window in the Schmiedestrasse can only be seen by following the "red line" around the Old Town Hall.