4 -- Alte Rathaus, Hannover (1400s)

The Marktkirche (blog monument post # 3) is adjacent to another remarkable and famous gothic structure , the Hannover Alte Rathaus, or old city hall.  This structure was built to serve municipal government functions, and (if my lazy recollection is correct) it was apparently used as such for centuries.  The Rathaus was fortunately saved from demolition in the 1800s by some forward-thinking local preservationists.  This is also a well-visited building and it is easy to see why.  It just has one of those kinds of designs that draw you into it.  Online sources say construction of this structure began in c. 1410 and that the rest of the building is dated to 1500 or so.   

Alte Rathaus near sunset.  

City and community leaders did a wonderful job of restoring it, and today you can hold functions inside of it.  

The building is across the small square from the Marktkirche, so it’s really difficult to visit one but not the other.   An image I saw of how this building appeared after WWII bombing show it, too, was left as a big burned out shell, although the outer walls appear to have remained standing up to the roofline right above the windows.   So it looks like the gothic spires that adorn its ends -- almost like a "crown" for the building -- had to be reconstructed.  But what a fine job they did!  

One thing I also found compelling was a frieze of stone plates with ornate carvings of a medieval pattern of vines with grapes (or are those pinecones?), busts of kings (or are those city leaders or religious figures?).   It could be very easy to spend hours just examining the frieze.