Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: city hall

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, is located about 100 km south of the Peloponnese. Crete was the center of Europe's first advanced civilization, the Minoans, from 3000 to 1400 BC. The Minoan civilization was overrun by the Mycenaean civilization from mainland Greece. Crete was later ruled by Rome, then successively by the Byzantine Empire, Andalusian Arabs, the Byzantine Empire again, the Venetian Republic, and the Ottoman Empire. In 1898 Crete, whose people had for some time wanted to join the Greek state, achieved independence from the Ottomans, formally becoming the Cretan State. Crete became part of Greece in December 1913. Heraklion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete. With a municipal population of about 180.000 it is the fourth largest city in Greece. The greater area of Heraklion has been continuously inhabited since at least 7000 BCE, making it one of the oldest inhabited regions in Europe. As a major center of the Minoan civilization it often considered Europe's oldest city. The Venetians erected this luxurious building so that the nobles and lords could spend their time in comfort. It is considered one of the most elegant architectural monuments in Heraklion from the Venetian period. The building was built around 1628 by Francisco Morosini, the General Provost of Crete, and is located next to the armoury (Armeria). After the conquest of the city by the Turks, the Loggia lost its old identity and fame. Today the town hall is located in the Venetian loggia.

Oviedo was founded on a hill that the Romans called Ovetao. The monks Máximo and Fromestano founded a monastery on the Roman road in 761 and built a hermitage. Later, two dozen monks from the Muslim south joined the founders and, according to a document, chose Fromestano as their first abbot. They were under the protection of Fruela I, who chose the place as a residence for his wife Munia, who gave birth here to their son and later King Alfonso II. Alfonso II (aka "the Chaste", "el Casto" moved the capital here in 812 and made Oviedo the seat of the bishopric. In 912, however, Oviedo lost its function as capital to León under García I in the course of the reconquest. Alfonso II fortified Oviedo and furnished it with palaces and churches. During his reign, a tomb attributed to St James the Elder was discovered in Santiago de Compostela in 812. The king travelled from Oviedo to Santiago and is said to have been the first pilgrim to Santiago. He is also said to have opened the first Way of St James, the Camino Primitivo. Until the city of León was established as both the capital of the Kingdom of León and the nexus of a safe route — the Camino Francés — the Camino Primitivo remained the most frequented route for those going to Santiago. The city hall was designed by Juan de Naveda and built between 1622 and 1623. It was renovated and extended in 1939

Under the Romans, the town was known as '"Beatia". Following its conquest by the Visigoths, Beatia was the seat of a bishopric. From the beginning of the seventh century, it was conquered by several Arab and Berber states. The diocese was reestablished in 1127 following the conquest by Alfonso VII of Castile, but Baeza was then again reconquered by the Almohads. After the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, Ferdinand III of Castile in 1227 retook the city. The 16th century was the golden era of Baeza (and nearby Úbeda). Noble families, which were well connected with the Spanish Imperial state hired major architects to design the present cathedral, churches and private palaces in the then-fashionable Renaissance style. The "Fuente de los Leones", located in front of the "Antiguas Carnicerias" (Old slaughterhouse), now the city hall, was in the 16th century the town´s major fountain. It came originally from the Ibero-Roman ruins of Cástulo. The sculpture on top may represent Himilce, wife of the Carthaginian general Hannibal

Frankfurt (Frankfurt am Main) is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. The city is the heart of the larger Rhine-Main metropolitan region, which has a population of more than 5.8 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region. Alemanni and Franks lived there, and by 794, Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly and church synod, at which Franconofurd was first mentioned. It was one of the two capitals of Charlemagne's grandson Louis the German. Louis founded the collegiate church, rededicated in 1239 to Bartholomew the Apostle and now Frankfurt Cathedral. Frankfurt was one of the most important cities in the Holy Roman Empire. From 855, the German kings were elected and crowned in Aachen. From 1562, the kings and emperors were crowned and elected in Frankfurt. This tradition ended in 1792. The Frankfurter Messe ('Frankfurt Trade Fair') was first mentioned in 1150. Book trade fairs began in 1478. In 1372, Frankfurt became a Reichsstadt (Imperial Free City), directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor and was the Free City of Frankfurt, for nearly five centuries. It lost its sovereignty upon the collapse of the empire in 1806, regained it in 1815 and then lost it again in 1866, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia. The Römer has been the town hall of Frankfurt for over 600 years. The Roman merchant family sold it together with a second neighboring building to the city council in 1405. The “Romer House” is actually the middle building of a group of three on Römerbergplatz. The air raids on Frankfurt during World War II left only the stone facades and ground floors of the medieval houses standing. Behind the emblematic stepped gable facade is the new construction of a modern office building in the style of the early 1950s.

Bentivoglio, a small town just 16 km northeast of Bologna, has this extraordinary town hall.

Oldenburg used to be located on a bay in the Baltic Sea and was a harbour of the Slavic Varrians. Between 780 and 840 the "Oldenburg Wall" was built, a Slavic castle complex, of which only a rampart remains today. The Slavic princely seat "Starigard "("Old Castle") became the place name Aldinborg, later Oldenburg. The place was disputed in the early Middle Ages. Within the 10th century, the later so-called bishopric of Oldenburg was established here, which belonged to the archbishopric of Hamburg. From about 1150 the church of St. Johannis was built. Around this time the Slavic tribes were deprived of their power, and in 1160 the bishop's seat was transferred to Lübeck. The first town hall that we know about was destroyed by a fire in 1370. The blaze spread quickly and destroyed two-thirds of the city. This second town hall of Oldenburg was demolished in 1668, twenty years after the end of the Thirty Years War. The construction of a new town hall had been finished in 1668. This town hall was used until 1834. After negotiations with the Royal Danish Government, a new town hall could be built in 1833/34. It was inaugurated in October 1834. In 1864, a fire destroyed the roof of the town hall. An overhaul of the whole building was then carried out in 1866/67. In addition, it was decided to give the "front view of the building a more pleasing appearance by adding a clock and a small tower." The small tower and the clock still adorn the town hall today.

Chaumont (pop. ~ 22.000) is located in the centre of Haute Marne. Peasants and artisans settled around an early existing fortified motte and so started the development of Chaumont, owned since the 12th century by the Counts of Champagne. Many people know the impressive Viaduc de Chaumont ("Chaumont viaduct"), 52 m high and 600 m long, constructed 1855-1856. But the town has as well a nice city hall, built in the 1920s.

Attendorn, located in the south of the hilly Sauerland region, was an (indirect) member of the Hanseatic League ("Hanse") represented at the great assemblies by the town of Soest. But - since 2012 - it is "Hansestadt Attendorn". In Hanseatic times this building, erected around 1350, was the city hall of Attendorn with an open ground floor for the merchants. Over the centuries the structure crumbled, but in the 1960s it was decided to renovate and rebuild it. Now it hosts the "Südsauerlandmuseum". www.suedsauerlandmuseum.de/suedsauerlandmuseum/

The Palazzo Comunale is (since medieval times) the city hall of Modena. The large building complex faces, just like the neighbouring Modena Cathedral the Piazza Grande, since 1997 a UNESCO World Heritage Site.