Town Hall of the Peace of Westphalia

The historic town hall of the city of Osnabrück was built between 1487 and 1512 in the late Gothic style, but already has clear Renaissance features. The front view is dominated by an 18-meter high hipped roof. At its lower end are a total of six towers, reminiscent of the guard and corner towers of a fortress. Since 1846, a large stone staircase has formed the entrance to the town hall, having previously been accessed via a retractable wooden staircase. Since 1963, the 500-year-old entrance door has been adorned with the heavy bronze door handle "Friede" by sculptor Fritz Szalinski. It shows a dove on a beam with the inscription "Friede 1648" and the city coat of arms in the form of the Osnabrück wheel. The founder of the city, the Frankish king and later emperor Charlemagne, is enthroned above the entrance. At his side since the 19th century are the eight so-called Kaiser sculptures, a gift from the Prussian royal family to the city of Osnabrück.
The first floor of the town hall houses, among other things, the Peace Hall and the treasury, where the council silver, coins, stamps, the oldest marksmen's chain and important documents are kept. On the upper floor is a model of Osnabrück in 1633 created by sculptor Heinrich Bohn in the mid-1950s.


On September 13, 1944, the town hall was badly hit during an allied bombing raid. The historical furnishings had already been moved out some time earlier and could thus be saved. Reconstruction began in 1947 and was completed in time for the 300th anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia on October 25, 1948.
On July 5, 2019, the historic entrance door was attacked. However, the damage, which was only superficial, was repaired.

Background to the construction of the town hall

An Osnabrück town hall on the market square was first mentioned in documents as early as 1244. It was located on the site of today's city library and was demolished in 1836. In the course of the 15th century, its relatively small size was no longer sufficient for the needs of the growing city and the diverse tasks of civic self-government. The decision to build a new building was a long and arduous process. Preparations began ten years before the start of construction, in 1477. As there was no central location in the densely built-up town, a new building site had to be created. The cemetery of St. Mary's Church was moved behind the church, houses and an entire alleyway had to disappear on the site of today's town hall and market. It was not until 1487 that the 25-year construction period of the "New Town Hall in the Old Town" began. Based on old town accounts, the estimated total cost of construction was around 6,000 marks. Converted to today's value, the costs amounted to around 23 million euros. The building was financed from the current city budget, depending on the cash situation. In 1487 and 1503, the council levied a special tax to finance the construction. The high costs also led to riots.
The mayor of Osnabrück at the time, Ertwin Ertman, is thought to have been the driving force behind the project. Coming from a modest background, he had achieved power and influence. He represented Osnabrück at the Hanseatic League in Cologne, Bremen and Lübeck. As early as 1452, he succeeded in ending the ten-year exclusion from the Hanseatic League that had been imposed two years earlier. Despite social unrest, Ertman held the office of mayor of the old town for 23 years and sat on the council for 52 years. He only retired from office in 1505, the year of his death.
With the construction of the New Town Hall, the citizens countered the ecclesiastical cathedral immunity with a self-confident center. It symbolized their independence, economic strength and political power.

The Peace Hall and the Peace of Westphalia

The Peace Hall was originally designed as a council chamber or meeting room: A room with a surrounding bench and a spectacular "democratic" concept: all those present looked each other in the face during deliberations. There was no spatial hierarchy; the Council itself formed the center of its decisions.
From 1643, the Peace Hall became one of the two venues for the negotiations of the Peace of Westphalia (1648). Alongside Münster, the peace treaties to end the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) were signed here. The walls of the Peace Hall are adorned with portraits of the 42 European envoys to the Peace Congress and the rulers of the warring parties at the time (including Queen Christina of Sweden, Louis XIV of France and the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III), painted by the Flemish painter Anselm van Hulle in 1648. Below the portraits and windows is the oak stalls decorated with carvings, which combine Gothic patterns with early Renaissance motifs. The so-called privilege cabinets - set into the brickwork between the windows - were used as wall cupboards in the large Osnabrück hospitals to store important documents such as deeds of endowment and prescriptions. They feature figurative and ornamental carvings. Citizens could rent the wall cupboards with simpler doors as a kind of safe deposit box for their valuables. A wrought-iron chandelier from the 16th century towers over the room as the central showpiece. Its three levels depict paradise, the firmament with the sun, moon and stars as well as Mary with the infant Jesus and three representatives of the estates. The reindeer antlers of a thirty-six-year-old were added later. Queen Christina of Sweden presented it to the city of Osnabrück to mark the signing of the peace.

The Peace of Westphalia is considered an outstanding event in German and European history, as it laid the first foundations for a united Europe. Since April 2015, Osnabrück Town Hall and Münster Town Hall have therefore been awarded the European Heritage Label. The European Commission awards this seal to places that have a special significance for the history of Europe.

The city scales

The city weigh house is located directly next to the town hall. Today, the registry office is located here. The building was erected between 1531 and 1532 as a two-storey, gabled building made of limestone masonry. The four-stepped stepped gable is characteristic. On the top floor, two bearded men hold the town's coat of arms. After being destroyed in the Second World War, the city scales were rebuilt in 1953 for the city administration.
The building was originally used to check the weight and quality of goods (especially textiles). The products were measured, weighed and the taxes due were also determined. After thorough inspection, the goods were given a seal in the form of the Osnabrück wagon wheel. Herbs were also stored in the attic of the city weigh house in the Middle Ages. These later formed the Grut, a spice mixture to make the beer tasty.

You can find a virtual tour of the town hall here.

Acoustic guidance system helps people with and without visual impairments to find their way around the town hall

The app's technology helps blind people as well as people with limited mobility to find their way around the town hall. The app registers when a user enters the town hall. The user can then select from a list which room in the town hall the app should acoustically guide them to. The user immediately receives information about their location, including the direction in which they are positioned in the room and what is around them. Individual profiles can also be stored in the app. If a user indicates that they are in a wheelchair, they will only be shown routes that lead to their destination without the use of stairs.

However, the technology can also be used to find your way around the town hall without the app. To this end, QR codes have been attached to rooms in the town hall - whether on door signs or next to doors. Anyone who scans them can be navigated from there to another room in the town hall.