The Medieval Town Hall

This lecture investigates the development of the town hall as a new kind of public building in medieval Europe. It is organized into six sections. Part I examines pertinent political, social, economic, urban, and architectural contexts. Part II introduces the topographical, formal, and functional considerations that were integral to the design of medieval town halls (with special reference to the magnificent example of the fifteenth-century Stadhuis in Brussels). Part III and Part IV survey six case study buildings erected in the cities of Bruges, Lübeck, Siena, London, and Paris between ca. 1150 and ca. 1550. Part V, then, investigates six overarching themes: spatial hierarchy, sacred iconography, secular iconography, decoration, competition and collaboration, and inclusion and exclusion. Particular attention is dedicated to the ways in which the construction of town halls—spearheaded by civic leaders with ties to various urban councils, guilds, and confraternities—upended existing notions of social organization, architectural production, and architectural reception. In several cases, where sufficient evidence survives, analysis turns to works of sculpture and/or painting. Part VI concludes with a brief meditation on the legacy of the medieval town hall in the modern period.