Altes Rathaus, Leoben, Medieval town hall in Leoben, Austria.
Altes Rathaus in Leoben is a late-medieval building on the Hauptplatz, made by merging three medieval farmstead plots. Its five-sided tower, about 29 metres high, becomes four-sided near the top, with a clock on each face whose hands end in figures including a sun and a moon. The west facade carries a coat-of-arms frieze.
The building was created in 1485 from three medieval houses and served as the seat of city government for a long time. When a new town hall was completed in 1973, it lost this function but retained its historical importance.
The coat of arms frieze on the west facade was added for Emperor Charles VI's visit in 1728 and shows the Habsburg crown lands; an inscription beside it explains the occasion. In 1935 it was extended with the town coats of arms of the former Lower Styria, bringing the total to 24. Above the frieze sits Leoben's heraldic animal, the iron-eating ostrich.
The tower and the coat of arms frieze on the west facade are best viewed from the Hauptplatz, where the building stands. The eastern tract, rebuilt for about 10 million euros over two years, reopened on 3 March 2022 as Live Congress Leoben for congresses and events. The Rathauspassage behind the square-facing shops is largely vacant.
Above the coat of arms frieze on the west facade is an ostrich eating iron, the heraldic animal of Leoben. The frieze itself was added for Emperor Charles VI's visit in 1728 and extended in 1935 with the coats of arms of towns of former Lower Styria, bringing the total to 24.
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