Altstadt Rathaus (Old Town Hall) - Brandenburg, Germany - City and Town Halls on Waymarking.com

The roots of historical Brandenburg date back to an old Slavonic castle called Brendanburg. In 929, Saxon king Henry the Fowler conquered the castle and thus, 929 is regarded the year of the foundation of Brandenburg.

In 1157, Albert the Bear made Brandenburg the capital of the newly formed Brandenburg Margraviate (which today is the German State of Brandenburg).

During the Thirty-Years War (1618–1648), both towns were ransacked, plundered and demolished. In 1715, they finally decided to combine their resources and merged into one city.

The first town hall of Brandenburg Altstadt was a wooden building, erected in 1290. The current building was built in 1468. The architect's name got lost in history, but the building is considered one of the mos prominent examples of 15th century red-brick Gothic.

The building served as the Altstadt town hall for 247 years, but in 1715, when Altstadt and Neustadt merged, it was decided to use the New Town's town hall as administrative center for the new, united city and the old town hall soon deteriorated.

For the next 150 years it was mainly used as a warehouse. In 1864, the town started using some of the facilities as court rooms; at the same time, the army used it as stockade. By 1904, the decay was so severe, that the building had to be boarded off completely.

Finally in 1910, to prevent total demolition, the city started a complete reconstruction and turned the building into a banquet hall.

An extensive restoration took place in 2006/07, and ever since, the towns mayor resides again in one of the city's oldest buildings.

In medieval mythology, Roland, who was the chief paladin of King Charlemagne was an icon of chivalry and faithfulness. The German Emperor awarded Roland statues to loyal towns. Becoming a "Roland-Town" entitle the town to hold markets and to hold court. Brandenburg received its first, wooden Roland statue in 1402. However, the emperor awarded only one Roland to both the Old and the New Town. Since only the town owning the Roland was allowed to hold markets, there have been many episodes in which the Roland was stolen, hidden or kidnapped by one town or the other. The dispute was settled only when both towns merged and the Roland was permanently moved to the New Town's town hall. In 1474, the wooden Roland was replaced by a sandstone statue. In 1945, when the New Town's town hall building was obliterated by British bombs, the Roland miraculously survived. After the war, the statue was moved back to the Old Town's town hall, and the brave knight has been watching over the town and its town hall ever since.