Bremen Town Hall and Roland Statue

Bremen, Germany

Bremen Town hall was built between 1405 and 1410 and the Weser Renaissance facade added in the 17th century. The Town Hall and the statue of Roland on the marketplace are outstanding representations of civic autonomy and sovereignty, as these developed in the Holy Roman Empire in Europe. The old town hall was built in the Gothic style in the early 15th century, after Bremen joined the Hanseatic League. The building was renovated in the so-called Weser Renaissance style in the early 17th century. A new town hall was built next to the old one in the early 20th century as part of an ensemble that survived bombardment during the Second World War.

The stone statue of Roland was initially erected in 1404 in representation of the rights and privileges of the free and imperial city of Bremen. The statue of Roland is associated with the Margrave of Brittany, a paladin of Charlemagne.

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Address

Am Markt 20, Bremen, Germany
See all sites in Bremen

Details

Founded: 1404-1410
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Germany
Historical period: Habsburg Dynasty (Germany)

More Information

whc.unesco.org
www.bremen-tourism.de
en.wikipedia.org
www.bremen-tourism.de

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Bremen Ratskeller (0 km)
Church of Our Lady (0,1 km)
Bremen Cathedral (0,1 km)
St. John's Church (0,3 km)
St. Martin's Church (0,2 km)

User Reviews

Halina Maladtsova (2 years ago)
Highly recommend the tour of the inside. Our English guide (I forget his name but remember that his mother is Turkish) was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. It was a great way to learn the history of Bremen!
jeremy noah (2 years ago)
The beautiful Bremen City Hall is the seat of the President of the Senate and Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It is one of the most important examples of Brick Gothic and Weser Renaissance architecture in Europe. Since 1973, it has been a protected historical building. In July 2004, along with the Bremen Roland statue, the building was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A must've seen in Bremen!
Bruce Chamberlain (2 years ago)
Beautiful to look at at night when they light up the city hall
Ruben Rodrigues (2 years ago)
I love how all medieval aged german cities have a marketplatz with a church and a rathaus. I am in love with all of this!
A.K. Young (2 years ago)
This Gothic, UNESCO world heritage site was amazingly restored to its prewar glory. You can enjoy it and the surrounding walking area. And, you can get a tour of the interior -- definitely worth the effort. This is the history-rich part of town.
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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

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Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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