The Rathaus (Town Hall) and Market

In 1816 the Old Town Hall in Berka together and many other houses were victims of a dreadful town fire.

On Goethe’s recommendation the new regional architect Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray was summoned to Berka. He designed and oversaw the reconstruction of the town. By the 2nd April 1817 the New Town Hall could already be inaugurated. Coudray applied his classical style to the Town Hall and many of the other buildings around the market. Despite their modesty the people of Berka afforded themselves a special feature, namely a "moon dial"?, which shows the phases of the moon on a blue and gold half-sphere.

At the end of the 19^th Century the Town Council purchased the adjoining building and thus enlarged the Town Hall; in 1932 the columned portal was added. The last thorough refurbishment was carried out between 1993 and 1995. A building emerged that fits in harmoniously with the spa town’s market place, which was revamped in 1992/93. Particularly successful was the conservation and highlighting of the classicist main building dating from 1817 with its entrance hall, remodelled in 1932, to which the already existing part and the newly constructed wing in their simple forms orientate. The generous daylight-flooded foyer is used for regularly changing exhibitions.