City Hall, Karlsruhe

The town hall on the market square in Karlsruhe dates back to 1805.

In 1811 the former town hall, originally built in 1728, was demolished. The current town hall was built in several stages from 1805 to 1825 according to the plans of the Karlsruhe architect Friedrich Weinbrenner; the foundation stone for the town hall in its current form was not laid until 1821. It was inaugurated on January 28, 1825. Due to financial difficulties, completion was delayed for a long time.

The town hall was destroyed during the Second World War on September 27, 1944 and was rebuilt between 1948 and 1955. It was ceremonially opened on December 13, 1955.

The classicist architecture of the building resembles that of the town church opposite. On the tower there is a figure of the god Mercury, about 1.8 m tall.

The Karlsruhe carillon in the town hall was created at the Karlsruhe Bell and Art Foundry and was put into operation in December 1981. It consists of 42 bronze bells with a range from g1 to c5. It is a tempered tuning. The individual bells were cast progressively as "minor" bells, that is: large bells were cast lightly, small ones superheavily. The largest bell g1 weighs almost 600 kilograms, the smallest c5 about 17 kilograms. The total weight of the bells is 4,107 kilograms. Due to the U-Strab construction work on the market square, the carillon was taken out of service in July 2013. In 2020, an extensive refurbishment by the Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry took place, and it was put back into service in November 2020.