Ratusz (Town Hall)The Renaissance Town Hall was used as the City's administration building till 1939. It is the finest example of a seat of urban government in Poland. The gothic town hall that preceded it on this site burnt down in 1536 and was replaced by the Italian architect Giovanni Battista Quadro with
the present structure. Three loggias decorate the front of the building and are surmounted by three small towers with intervening attica. The central small tower is equipped with a clock and above it with doors from which at the noon hour emerge two rams, symbols of Poznań, that battle each other. Below the clock can be seen the royal monogram. To the side of are portraits of the Kings of the Jagiellonian dynasty. The tower is a later addition, the original one having collapsed in
Inside on the first floor is the Renaissance Hall, richly decorated with astral, grotesques, plant and fantastic themes. The Ratusz burnt down during WWII as the result of military operations and was rebuilt thereafter. Today it is the location of Poznań's Historical Museum |
