The Old Town Hall

The Old Town Hall building is located at 1 Liberty Square. It was built between 1731 and 1734, after the conquest of Timișoara by the Austrians, when the German settlers in town demanded they have a town hall of their own. Thus appeared the Town Hall of the German community or the New Town Hall.

On the site of the current building there had been a Turkish public bath. Proof of this is the plaque mounted on the wall on the right side of the main entrance, with an Arabic inscription on it, dating back to the time of the Ottoman rule: "This public bath was erected in the times of terror of Ibrahim Ehan Hedja 1053".

Throughout the centuries, the building has gone through several phases and undergone various changes:

- in 1781 it was called the Town Hall of the Free Royal City of Timişoara;

- in 1782 it was rebuilt by Josef Aigner, who also changed the coat of arms on the façade;

- in 1849, the building was damaged after the artillery shelling during the revolution;

- between 1848 and 1849, the Austrian commander of the fortress, Rukavina von Vidovgrad installed two loaded canons in front of the Town Hall, to intimidate the revolutionaries;

- the project for the new façade is dated 1853;

- the building was repaired in 1935;

- in 1949, the Town Hall moved into its current headquarters.

In terms of architecture, the building was designed in Eclectic style, but in also includes Classicist elements specific for the second half of the nineteenth century.

It is structured on three levels: ground floor and two floors. Above the gate there is a balcony and four arched windows. The surface of the building is interrupted by panels bordered by pilasters, each one containing two windows arranged vertically.

The frontispiece of the building illustrates a piece of the wall of Turkish Timişoara, a palisade wall interrupted by the Prince Eugene gate.

Text source: https://timisoara.eventya.eu/