Altes Rathaus: Bad Waldsee’s Late Gothic Town Hall
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Town Hall
On this page10 sections
History
The Altes Rathaus is a Late Gothic town hall in Bad Waldsee, Germany, built in 1426 under the direction of mayor and master builder Ulrich Kudrer. Constructed during a conflict with the Waldburg pledge lordship, it expressed the city’s self-government and its claims to rights granted by the House of Habsburg, the major European ruling dynasty whose authority extended across lands in the Holy Roman Empire. Its scale and civic ambition allowed it to stand alongside Waldburg castle and the collegiate church, a church served by a college of clerics rather than a monastic community.
Self-Government and Judicial Authority
The town hall represented Bad Waldsee’s political position at a time when the Waldburg family, a noble house with territorial authority in Upper Swabia, exercised influence in the region. The building was also associated with the city’s judicial power, including the blood ban, a jurisdiction allowing a town or lord to impose capital punishment. In the sixteenth century, the building served as a setting for witch trials. In 1586 alone, 17 women in the city were sentenced to death.
Political power within the city remained concentrated among a small number of families because voting rights were restricted. Councilors also held drinking gatherings in the town hall, adding a social dimension to its role as a center of civic authority. The building’s judicial associations were expressed through public ceremonies and objects connected with executions, which remained part of its historical memory.
Modern Changes and Continuing Civic Use
Renovation work in 2019 and 2020 addressed the roof timbers, side facades, and show gable. Parts of the city administration continue to use the building. Since 2025, however, the mayor’s official office has been located in the New Town Hall, built on the grounds of the former Franciscan monastery. The Altes Rathaus is designated a cultural monument of the state of Baden-Württemberg.
Remains
The Altes Rathaus stands within Bad Waldsee’s historic old town and medieval fortifications, at the corner of Ravensburger Straße and Hauptstraße. It is a three-story, plastered solid building in the Late Gothic civic tradition, a later medieval style known for elaborate tracery and intricate decorative detail. Its surviving spaces combine a former market hall, rooms for civic government, and architectural features associated with the town’s judicial authority.
Gable and Market Hall
West Gable
The west gable is elaborately arranged with blind niches, a delicate tracery gallery, and a polygonal oriel, a projecting upper-story window or enclosed bay. It was raised in 1657 and received a new bell turret in Late Renaissance forms. The gable was originally crowned by a figure of the archangel Michael. During the nineteenth century, that figure was replaced by a statue of Justitia, the personification of justice traditionally shown with scales and sometimes a sword or blindfold. The present statue is a replica, while the restored original stands in a showcase inside the town hall.
Lauben
The ground floor contains the Lauben, an open hall supported by pillars. This space formerly served as a market hall and forms the building’s principal public-facing lower level.
Civic and Judicial Spaces
Council Chamber
The first floor contains the council chamber, whose Gothic windows are set in shallow-arched niches. A wooden coffered ceiling covers the room, and its construction-period wall paintings were renewed in 1912. A stone inscription carved into a column of the historic council room records the beginning of construction in 1426.
South Oriel and Judicial Features
A small box oriel dating from 1526 projects from the south side. Judgments were proclaimed from this position, and a staff was broken over convicted persons in a public assertion of the city’s extensive judicial rights. The present mayor’s room contains a historically significant washbasin that judges used ritually after executions. On the rear gable, a small Poor Sinners’ Bell was rung when condemned persons were led to the stake.
