Kaunas Town Hall

Kaunas, Lithuania

The construction of Kaunas town hall started in 1542. At first it was a one-storey building with not daubed facade and vaulting cellars. In the 16th century the first floor was build and the eight storey tower was built in the east of the building. The ground floor was adjusted for trading and prison guards, the first floor - for trial, magistrate, treasure, archive and office. Cellars were used to store the goods. The cellars of the tower were used as a prison.

In the year 1638 the renaissance reconstruction was made. In the year 1771 -1775 the second reconstruction was made by architect J. Matekeris. He rebuilt the part of building, which was demolished in the 17th century, replanned the premises and added additional floor to the tower. He decorated the town hall with baroque and classicism style decorations, rebuilt the pediment and erected there the sculptures of Grand Dukes of Lithuania (they survived only until the 19th century).

In 1824 the town hall was used as the premises of the orthodox church and later - ammunition storage. In 1836 the town hall was reconstructed again. The residence for Russian Czars was made there. From the year 1862 and 1869 there was The Kaunas town club, Russian club, firemen office and Russian theatre. In 1869 Kaunas municipality was established in the Town hall. In the year 1944 it was replaced by the archive and in the year 1951 the archive was replaced by Kaunas technical institute.

In 1973 the Wedding Hall (marriage registration office) was opened in the ground and first floor of Town hall. The cellars were used by a Ceramics museum. In the year 2005 the last reconstruction was made, some of damage was eliminated and the Town hall was painted this time not with white color, but with ivory.

Today Kaunas Town hall is used for the wedding ceremonies, official welcome of city guests, signing of agreements and official events.

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Rotušės aikštė 15, Kaunas, Lithuania
See all sites in Kaunas

Details

Founded: 1542
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Lithuania

More Information

en.wikipedia.org
www.7seasons.eu

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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User Reviews

Douglas Barbosa (3 years ago)
Beautiful and calm place to visit, relax and discover a lot of history about Kaunas.
Deividas Matulevicius (3 years ago)
Very nice old town square
Ramil Rahmanov (3 years ago)
Historical places.. I liked. advice everybody..
Andrew Horsfall (3 years ago)
Charming highlight on our day trip to Kaunas. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, kind, and fluent in multiple languages. The tour was rather in depth, as we were able to see many aspects of the building. I deem this a must-stop for anyone coming to this town. Thank you to the wonderful staff.
Darius K (3 years ago)
Nice place ti visit. I was told that soon we can climb to a tower. That means I will visit it again
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