Touring Town Hall.

The West Town Hall Wing, nowadays a part of the large town hall premises, was once one of the most important municipal buildings in Trnava. In respect to the arrival of German colonists - or guests, since they came upon the king’s invitation - the first municipality of Trnava was formed in the 13th century, based on German municipal law adjusted to the conditions in the Kingdom of Hungary. It was led by a reeve together with a town council, although at first the position of the reeve was a hereditary office of German merchants, rather than an elected position. The town municipal sessions were held in the reeve’s house, only later was the first separated municipal building built at the back area of the reeve’s house, at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. One of the upstairs rooms was ceremonial and heated room with three stone traceried windows, the walls of which were lined with wooden panels warming the room. It is possible that this was the place of town council meetings, or perhaps it was used by the town office which recorded the municipality’s decisions in writing. A big cellar, with a gothic brick ribbed cross vault, served as a prison. Later, when the old reeve’s house located closer to the street started to be used for town hall purposes, the original town hall building became a prison, for which a house for the town hangman was built, and later the chapel of St. John the Baptist. However, in the 17th century the capacity of the prison was no longer sufficient. Therefore, a new two-floor prison building was built onto its south side. Convicts passed the time by engraving on the walls, where nowadays various preserved engravings and pictures can be seen. One of the rights granted by King Belo IV in 1238, was the right of the town hall to hold trials for Trnava citizens in civic or disciplinary causes, and based on the size of the prison it is clear that the municipality exercised this right sufficiently.

 

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