Rathaus (Town Hall) in Michelstadt

My brother joined my sister and I for the last part of our Europe trip. We headed to Michelstadt to visit extended family. The first evening we took a walk through the charming Old City and saw one of it's most famous landmarks.

Michelstadt’s Town Hall is one of the most beautiful and architecturally significant timber-frame buildings in Germany. The Gothic structure with its three turrets sits against the backdrop of the massive Town Church, creating a pleasant contrast. The building’s upper structure, the first in which timber framing in the form of steep, story-high St. Andrews Crosses was used, is supported by strong wooden ground-story pillars. The year of construction, 1484, is inscribed in the wood in Gothic numerals, using a half-eight as a four. The Town Hall’s open ground floor accommodated the local court, while the townspeople and watchmen congregated outside. The upper story housed the Town Council, which was originally called Honorable Court”. The loft was used to store the tithe grain, which was administered by the “Kastenmeister”, the local treasurer. In the course of time, Michelstadt’s Town Hall has been used as a soldiers’ camp, military hospital and school. With the exception of the clock, which was moved from Michelstadt’s “Lower Gate” to the Town Hall in 1892, the building’s Western gable, facing the Marketplace, has remained unchanged for more than 500 years now.