Inside the Gothic city hall building

The stone facade Gothic building was put together much later after it had become the city hall, a few decades actually. In there is a sort of an exhibition which is open to the public. From large paintings to original ornaments of the building from the times when it was used as a jail to the newer ornaments from when it was rebuilt and so on.

It is a quieter part of the tour of the city and might come off as boring compared to the other attractions the city has to offer. Nevertheless, away from the crowd, this place does have a lot of historical elements and facts I would enjoy. But to be completely honest, I just wandered into the building because it was the only Gothic structure with an open door.

Past the lobby, there is a secluded area with paintings of prominent figures and much more. You can also get a guided tour but I don't think it is really needed since everything is either self explanatory or very easy to look up.

The corridor is lined with paintings, the wooden beam roof is the same as the one at the lobby and I assume they are originals from the early 1900s when this structure was built. There are a couple of stone beams and pillars as well as a lot of doors that we, the public, are not allowed through without permission.

The seats are all wooden and after doing a little bit digging I found these wooden chairs were used at the council meetings many years ago. How cool is that?

The first painting you see is of Graaf Francois Jospeh di Viry but he has little to do with the Cityhall. In fact, the painting was made by Frans Kinsoen, a local artist in 1806 who had made his rounds and reputation in Paris. His painting style appealed to the wealthy and noble because he made them look....well like that!

At the bottom corner is Empress Maria-Theresia. This painting was made by Mathias de Visch around 1750s but is not the only one he did. There is another at the Bruges Museum which was done roughly 2 years prior to this and was based on a prototype by another artist.

The lobby has a side dedicated to ornaments from the older structure and pieces of ruble from the fire that burned a part of the structure. The stone work is really incredible. A lot of Gothc stone ornaments are just up on the building and cannot really be appreciated up close, but here you can. This was a cool part of the exhibition since you could also read about the parts shown and their history.

The building obviously was much smaller even after the current facade was uprighted. Before this, it was a jail and even smaller. But there are elements like this door way or the windows that are from decades ago. The outside is now on the inside. The windows have a whole story behind them but them including being a sort of coat of arms and show of power and wealth, but the fact that they are still here and preserved in excellent condition is just mindblowing.

A lot of original elements like pillars, stairs, torch lights, and pillars are kept open and used as much as possible. If not broken why fix it, right? The chests, however, are not very practical but are kept on dspplay to paint the whole picture. These are different chests with different designs from different time periods. The video mentioned one of them was used to store money, gold, and so on, and another was used to store documents and paper. Any case, the city hall building, inside and out, are a must visit!

---

_{Follow me on twitter}

---

Affiliate links

_{Rising Star
Exode
Huobi
Appics
Splinterlands
Actifit
Binance
Ionomy
Cryptex}