Kaunas Town Hall, Kaunas

The Town Hall of Kaunas stands in the middle of the Town Hall Square at the heart of the Old Town, Kaunas, Lithuania.The structure dates from the 16th century. It houses a Museum of Ceramics.
The Town Hall is distinguished by its slenderness and grace. Its tower of height of 53 meters is the highest in the old city. Present Town Hall located in the square was not the first in Kaunas. The previous one was destroyed by the fire.
The construction of Kaunas town hall started in 1542. At first it was a one-storey building with not daubed facade and vaulting cellars. In the 16th century the first floor was built and the eight storey tower was built in the east of the building. The ground floor was adjusted for trading and prison guards, the first floor - for trial, magistrate, treasure, archive and office. Cellars were used to store the goods. The cellars of the tower were used as a prison.
In the year 1638 the renaissance reconstruction was made. In the year 1771 -1775 the second reconstruction was made by architect J. Matekeris. He rebuilt the part of building, which was demolished in the 17th century, replanned the premises and added additional floor to the tower. He decorated the town hall with baroque and classicism style decorations, rebuilt the pediment and erected there the sculptures of Grand Dukes of Lithuania (they survived only until the 19th century).
In the year 1824 the town hall was used as the premises of the orthodox church and later - ammunition storage.
In the year 1836 the town hall was reconstructed again. The residence for Russian czars was made there.
From the year 1862 and 1869 there was The Kaunas town club, Russian club, firemen office and Russian theatre.

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