Town Hall in Lipiany

The town hall stands in the middle of Wolności Square, which is the market square of Lipiany, and is a Neoclassical building from the second half of the 18th century. Built of brick, plastered and two storeys high, it has an octagonal clock turret on the roof. It was entered in the heritage register in 1957.

Fire and rebuilding

The town council probably had its seat on the market square as early as the 14th century, and the town hall appears on town plans from 1700 and 1720. The present building was most probably built in the second half of the 18th century, or possibly at the beginning of the 19th century. It burned down on 28 February 1827. An investigation showed that the town hall had been set on fire by the court usher of the time, Ernst Gottlieb Richter, to cover up an earlier murder of a servant of the town council and his wife. It was rebuilt in 1828-1829, keeping the former forms and details.

The clock turret was added in 1844. In the first quarter of the 20th century a fire station was built against the rear façade. In 1945 the town hall briefly housed the Soviet military commandant's office, after which it was taken over by the Polish administration and for a time housed the Pyrzyce County office. The façade was renovated in 1964, and a thorough renovation was carried out in 2004. A new clock was fitted in the turret in 2007.

Architecture

The façade faces south-east. The longer elevations have eleven bays and three shallow projections, and the centre of the front is crowned by a tympanum with a cartouche bearing the coat of arms of Lipiany. The main entrance, above which is a balcony with an ornamental iron balustrade on brackets, is in the middle of the façade. The windows have moulded surrounds, and the face of the elevation, apart from the projections, is rusticated.

The fountain and the oak in front of the town hall

In a semicircular niche on the side elevation stands a fountain with a five-sided basin. Its bowl is decorated with a relief showing townspeople in Renaissance dress, sitting at a shared bench and feasting. The fountain was installed in the 1930s or 1940s to commemorate a legend about brewing in Lipiany; it is called the “Wadephul Well” or the “Brewers' Well”. In front of the building grows the Peace Oak, also known as the Brewers' Oak, planted on 18 January 1816 to mark the victory over Napoleon at Waterloo and the signing of the Peace of Paris.

Right next to the town hall stands the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and since it is by the market square itself, on Wolności Square, it is easy to combine with a walk around the town.

Practical information

• Address: plac Wolności 1, Lipiany, in the middle of the market square.
• Best viewed from outside: the façade, the clock turret, the fountain and the oak.
• The office gives information on access to the interiors.