Rathaus Bautzen, Town hall on the Hauptmarkt in Bautzen, Germany

Rathaus Bautzen stands between the Hauptmarkt and the Fleischmarkt in the old town. Its tower was begun in 1489 and completed in 1493; the three-storey baroque tower roof dates from the rebuilding after the 1704 fire. The south facade received its pilaster architecture in 1863, and the north side has a baroque double staircase added in the 1729–1732 renovation.

The first town hall on this site was built in 1213 under a charter of King Ottokar I Přemysl of Bohemia. From 1346 it housed the Lusatian League of Six Towns. The tower foundation was laid in 1489 and completed in 1493; after fires in 1634, 1660 and 1704 the present three-storey tower roof was built. Johann Christoph von Naumann remodelled the building between 1729 and 1732, and the south facade received its pilasters in 1863.

The building stands at the heart of the city and serves as a meeting place for municipal celebrations and public gatherings. Its tower shapes the town's skyline and remains a daily landmark for residents, central to Bautzen's identity.

The town hall sits between the Hauptmarkt to the south and the Fleischmarkt to the north, in the middle of the old town. The baroque double staircase added in 1729–1732 is on the north side, while the south facade with its pilasters dates from 1863. Look up at the south side of the tower, to the right of the top clock, for the dark stone jutting out.

On the south side of the tower, just right of the topmost clock, a dark stone juts out carved as a Turk's head with a turban. According to legend it was walled in to mark the Turkish troops approaching in 1683, who were defeated at Vienna before reaching the town.