Town hall in Quedlinburg, Medieval Town Hall in Quedlinburg, Germany

The Rathaus Quedlinburg is a two-storey stone building, 25 metres wide and 17 metres high, on the north side of the market square at Markt 1. Its steep saddle roof is topped with dormers, and the eastern outer wall runs at an angle to the building, following the Breite Straße. A two-storey hexagonal archive tower with a tent roof and blind tracery stands at the south-west corner; the facade is covered with wild vine and rows of flower boxes.

A council is first documented in 1229 and councillors in 1265; the roof timbers were felled in 1289, and the building itself is first recorded in 1310. The present facade dates from the rebuilding of 1615/1616, when paired rectangular windows replaced the Gothic pointed arches and the entrance was moved from the west gable to the market side. A large extension with a staircase and east and west wings followed between 1899 and 1901, designed by Stadtbaurat Laumer, consecrated on 30 May 1901.

The council met three times a week from 1588, summoned by the bell of the Sankt-Benedikti-Kirche to the north. In 1583 the hall hosted a theological disputation between theologians sent by several princes. In 1645 an Egyptian lion was put on show here. The upper floor held the Bürgersaal for festivities.

The town hall faces the north side of the market square at Markt 1, with the Roland statue standing to its southwest. The eastern outer wall runs at an angle to the building, following the line of the Breite Straße where it meets the square. A seven-step flight of stairs leads up to the 1616 portal, which is framed by columns and fitted with seating niches.

The two-storey archive tower on the south-west side dates from the late 14th century and was first mentioned in 1460. Its upper floor held the secret treasury, called the Kesselbudde because of its unusually vaulted ceiling. The tower once carried a sundial, and its window reveals were painted red, its tracery panels white.