Bratislava Old Town Hall
Building, structure
The oldest building on the square is the Old Town Hall: the city council of the free royal city of Bratislava was based there. The tower was considered the main tower of Bratislava for a long time: from here, royal elections and national assemblies were announced, new money was put into circulation, victory celebrations, etc.; The building itself got its current form by combining three houses: the towered part is the house of Judge Jakab, next to it the former Unger house, and the part extending into the Town Hall Street is the old Apponyi Palace. The oldest part dates from 1288, the city bought it in 1387 and then added the second pointed arched part and the tower, which originally served as a chapel. In its current form, the tower bears the traces of the Baroque transformation at the end of the 17th century. The gate was built around 1442 and has remained unchanged, and finally the Rococo palace of the Apponyi family was annexed to it in 1867. ; Its Renaissance arcaded courtyard, built in 1581, is an imposing sight. Until 1548, a horse-drawn dry mill was also in operation in the courtyard, according to the descriptions. ; The ground floor of the Old Town Hall housed the city's beer weighing, mint and armoury. The town hall also housed the thirtieth office (Dreissighof), the salt chamber (Salzkammer) and the public balance office, but the executioner also had an apartment here. ; When holidays were announced, musicians played in the tower, and the city's special musician, the tower master, lived here, who had to play the wind instruments on certain occasions. ; The city's chief official was actually the judge (Stadtrichter, iudex civium), who was elected and installed in office with great ceremony in the Franciscan convent. Then came the mayor, the chamberlain (Chamerer), the chief physician (Spitalmeister), the police chief (Stadthauptmann), the forester (Waldmeister), etc.; Today the building houses the City Museum and the Bratislava City Archives. It is said that only the Cologne Archives can compete in Europe with the quantity of documents preserved in its archives.