Historic City Hall and Hall of Honour

The historic city hall, facing Heilbronn's market square, is a true gem and one of the city's most remarkable historic buildings. The building preceding the historic city hall is reported to date back to the 13th century and was replaced by a representative construction in the Gothic period around 1417. The Renaissance period city hall as seen today includes some sections of the Gothic edifice and was completed towards the end of the 16th century. Remnants of the first stone building may still be found at the east exterior wall. 

The city hall arcades below the striking flight of front stairs, built between 1581 and 1583, cover a bench 6.5m long. According to the inscription, only guards were allowed to sit on it. Until the end of the 19th century, commodities and merchants' goods were stored in the city hall's vault - today's home of the “Ratskeller” restaurant.

The building, which was destroyed in 1944, was rebuilt between 1950 and 1953 to match its historic original. The contemporary annex to the east was completed between 1959 and 1963. The relief embedded in the wall above the stone bench shows “Jesus and the Samaritan Woman”. It used to be part of a large public well construction which was located right in the middle of Kirchbrunnenstraße between 1541 and 1868. The two pillory recesses are noteworthy as well.


 Ehrenhalle (Hall of Honour)  
 This Rococo building, formerly home
 to the city's archive, was built in
 1765/66 by Johann Christoph Keller
 and was once regarded as Heilbronn's
 most beautiful secular building.
 After its destruction, it was rebuilt by
 architect Rudolph Gabel between
 1959 and 1963.


To commemorate nearly 11,000 people who had lived in Heilbronn and lost their lives during World War II, sculptor Karl Knappe was commissioned to design the interior as a hall of honour.
The Hall of Honour is opened during the opening hours of the Bürgeramt (public local office).

Address
Marktplatz 7, 74072 Heilbronn