The town hall of medieval Prešov originally stood on a different location. It was a detached two-storey stone building, built somewhere on the site of today's park with a monument to the Red Army. However, during the 17th century, for unknown reasons (probably damage during fires), the magistrate abandoned it and moved into the building that still serves this purpose today. The exact appearance of the original town hall is unknown, only the stone town coat of arms from the first half of the 16th century, secondarily located in the portal of the later town hall, has survived. The new building was a splendid town house in the Middle Ages. At the beginning of the 16th century, it was converted into the town wine cellar and served this purpose for almost two centuries. Only some fragments of the interiors, the portal and the late Gothic lining on the ground floor have been preserved from the Gothic period. In the second half of the 16th century, the wine cellar was enlarged by an extension over the street passage connecting the two quarters of the square and was rebuilt in the Renaissance style. The interiors were then vaulted with Renaissance arches and the building was finished with a rich gable attic. A thorough rebuilding followed the fire of 1768. It was completed in 1788, when it was given a late Baroque appearance with a typical façade with high windows and a balcony. The last reconstruction took place after the great fire of 1887. The second floor was added at that time. After the occupation of the town and a large part of eastern Slovakia by the Hungarian Red Army, the Slovak Republic was proclaimed from its balcony on 16 June 1919. Since 1945 the building housed the Municipal National Committee, after 1990 the Municipal Office. In 1961 the town hall was entered into the list of national cultural monuments.
Map
Information
City Hall
Main 73
080 01 Prešov
Tel: 051/3100 154, 051/3100 255
E-mail: mesto.radnica@presov.sk
Web: www.presov.sk
