Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: Rathaus

Sankt Gilgen is located - 25 kilometers east of Salzburg - on the northwest bank of the Wolfgangsee . (PiP1) Half of the lake belongs to the village. Sankt Gilgen was first mentioned in 1376. In 1863, shipping began on the Wolfgangsee and that brought attention to the small village. The construction of a railway in 1893 led to another increase in tourism. Rich Viennese started to build summer residences there. In 1957 the Zwölferhorn cable car was opened (see: www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/49357046 ). Sankt Gilgen is a quiet, small and charming village with an idyllic atmosphere with typical Austrian houses with flowery balconies (PiP2). The small town centre has a shopping street, a 13th century Catholic parish church and a town hall, which was built in 1914/1915. In front of the town hall is a statue of Mozart playing the violin (main picture). Sankt Wolfgang promotes itself as Mozart-Dorf .The grandfather of the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart worked in Sankt Gilgen, his mother was born there and his sister also lived in the village. The composer himself never visited his mother's house of birth or his sister's house. Nowadays this Mozarthaus houses a museum.

Around the year 1000 Stolberg ( Stollen = mining gallery, Berg = hill) was established as a settlement for miners. Iron, copper, silver, tin and gold were extracted close by. As early as the High Middle Ages coins were minted in Stolberg, reaching its heyday during the 16th century. The Old Mint (PiP 1) is one of the most beautiful timber-framed houses in town. It was built in 1534 and has acted as a mint, mining fee office and district court; now housing the local Stolberger Museum Alte Münze. The town hall (main picture) is dating back to the year of 1452. It offers a remarkable architecture, as it has no internal stairs; upper storeys only could be accessed by outdoor steps. Originally the building had 12 towers (months), 52 windows (weeks) and 365 glass windows (days). The sundial is from 1724, when the building became the town hall. Stolberg is one of the most picturesque villages along the German Timber-Frame Road. It still has about 380 timber framed houses in its centre (PiP 2 and 3).

When Basel joined the Swiss Confederation in 1501, the city wished to express this important step with a visible gesture. The Cantonal Parliament decided to replace the old town hall with a grander and more representative building in 1503. No expense was to be spared to underline Basel’s new importance. Between 1504 and 1514 - after the great earthquake - a new town hall was constructed. The oldest part consists of three pointed arcades, above which the richly decorated Legislature Hall is located. The coats of arms of Basel and the 11 other members of the then Confederation adorn the crenellations. The inner courtyard has playful frescoes (PiP 1). Due to the continuous growth of the city, the town hall was expanded several times. The last expansion - 1899 -1901 - were the tower at the right and the block-shaped administrative building with an elaborately decorated bay window (PiP 2). The town hall became its present characteristic façade at the Marktplatz in the middle of the centre of Basel. It is still the seat of the Basel government and its parliament.

Marktplatz (Market square) in Heppenheim during blue hour with the town hall (l) and half-timbered houses. The town hall (Rathaus) was built in 1561. After the city fire of 1693 the baroque half-timbered Rathaus was rebuilt in 1705/06.

Limburg - developed around a castle from the late 7th century - was first mentioned in documents in the year of 910 as "Lintpurc", when the St. George monastery was founded by Konrad Kurzbold. The town became stone ramparts in the 12th and following centuries. The construction of a new church belonging to St. George monastery started in 1200. Around that time a new castle was built south of the new church. The plague ravaged Limburg in 1344. The town then underwent a steady decline until the early 19th century, when the rise of the Duchy of Nassau (1806-1866) gave a new lease of life to Limburg. In 1827, Limburg became the seat of a diocese and in 1886 it was made district capital. Limburg's old town offers a maze of cobble stoned streets, lined with crooked half-timbered houses some dating back to the 13th century, but most of them are ‘just’ from the 17th or 18th century. The St. George Cathedral is Limburg’s landmark, situated on a little hill, is one of the best examples of late Romanesque architecture in Germany. The church was built between 1200 and 1235, it was elevated to the rank of cathedral in 1827. I took this picture from a parking garage in the city centre with the former town hall in the foreground and the St. Georg Cathedral above the old town in the background.