Rathaus Michelstadt, Gothic town hall in Michelstadt, Germany

Rathaus Michelstadt is a half-timbered Gothic building from 1484 that stands at the center of the old town marketplace. The ground floor is open on the sides and once served as a covered market hall, while the upper floors project outward on two round wooden pillars.

The building was erected in 1484 to serve both as a seat of local government and as a market space for the town's merchants. Over the centuries it went through several restorations but kept much of its original form.

The date 1484 is carved into one of the northern oak posts of the open ground-floor hall, not on the north facade. The building is a protected monument and counts among Germany's most important late-medieval half-timbered houses. A 1984 stamp marked its 500th anniversary, and oversized replicas stand in Blumenau, Brazil, and as Kibri and Schreiber models.

The town hall sits on the marketplace at the heart of the old town and is easy to reach on foot from almost any point in the historic center. Many other heritage buildings are nearby, so a walk through the old town fits naturally around a visit here.

Although the construction date was carefully recorded in regional documents, the name of the craftsman who designed the building remains unknown to this day. This was common in the Middle Ages, when the builder often went unnamed while the work itself lasted for centuries.