The city hall is located in the heart of Heidelberg's Old Town.
The predecessor of today's city hall was destroyed by French troops in 1689. In 1701, the foundation stone was laid for the new building, which is still standing today. The plans for the central building were drawn up by chief engineer Flemal. The building sculpture with masks and the electoral coat of arms was created by the sculptor Heinrich Charrasky, a Hungarian who worked in Heidelberg from 1710 to 1720. The rococo lattice of the balcony with the initials of Elector Karl Theodor was added only in 1751. Behind the balcony was the city hall from 1703 to 1914. A fire in 1908 made reconstruction necessary. The houses still standing to the south of the city hall along the main street at that time were demolished and replaced by the new structure. The eastern extension of the city hall had already been constructed in 1886. Another extension on the east side followed in 1961, including the turret with chimes. From 1720 to 1956, the inn "Zum Großen Fass" stood on this site.
A "citizen's pride" after its completion in 1890, today only a few people know the meeting hall of the city council. The fact that the Great Hall of the City Council was a special attraction of the city, which at that time had 30,000 inhabitants, can be easily understood by today's visitors when they enter this room. In its historicist appearance in the form of the Neo-Renaissance, the magnificently furnished hall with wood panelling and paintings is a telling testimony to the representative interior architecture in public buildings of its time.
At the same time, it documents in many ways interesting developments in Heidelberg's urban and architectural history. It was the sharp increase in administrative activity during the economic upswing of the city after the War of 1870/71 that made the expansion of the city hall urgently necessary.
The turning point in the building's history came with a fire that thoroughly destroyed the Neo-Renaissance corner building adjacent to the Great Hall of the City Hall on the night of Shrove Monday in 1908. After this unplanned "liberation" from uncertainty in architectural judgment, the damaged building wing was unceremoniously demolished. The way is now clear for Kuhn's city hall extension in the neoclassical style, which still exists today.
A "citizen's pride" after its completion in 1890, today only a few people know the meeting hall of the city council. The fact that the Great Hall of the City Council was a special attraction of the city, which at that time had 30,000 inhabitants, can be easily understood by today's visitors when they enter this room. In its historicist appearance in the form of the Neo-Renaissance, the magnificently furnished hall with wood panelling and paintings is a telling testimony to the representative interior architecture in public buildings of its time.
At the same time, it documents in many ways interesting developments in Heidelberg's urban and architectural history. It was the sharp increase in administrative activity during the economic upswing of the city after the War of 1870/71 that made the expansion of the city hall urgently necessary.
The turning point in the building's history came with a fire that thoroughly destroyed the Neo-Renaissance corner building adjacent to the Great Hall of the City Hall on the night of Shrove Monday in 1908. After this unplanned "liberation" from uncertainty in architectural judgment, the damaged building wing was unceremoniously demolished. The way is now clear for Kuhn's city hall extension in the neoclassical style, which still exists today.