Old City Hall

About this artwork.

Groningen City Hall, whose construction was completed in 1810, is not the first building where city officials met. The old council and winery previously graced the Grote Markt (then Breede Merct) for more than three and a half centuries (1443 – 1774). The colored engraving by Hermanus Numan (1744 - 1820), engraver, copyist and painter, depicts the Council and Wine House that stood there until 1774.

The old City Hall was built as a simple elongated building, with one floor for trading purposes and one for holding meetings. Eighteenth-century drawings show a gable stone with the year 1443. The City Hall was then expanded with a few rooms and the graceful north facade. Over the years, the city council has seen its tasks expand more and more. That is why they sometimes needed more space and new rooms were added. Not long after the renovation of the City Hall, the winery was built a few meters next to it. The oldest part of the City Hall cannot be dated exactly, but probably dates from the fourteenth century.

In the course of the eighteenth century, the council and winery became increasingly dilapidated. Every reason for Mayor Anthony van Iddekinghe and his companion and advisor Professor Petrus Camper to launch a competition in 1775 for a new City Hall. At the time, it was the first architectural competition in the Netherlands. In 1775, the old counsil and winery on the Grote Markt was demolished. It took until 1810, mainly because of financial shortages and to a lesser extent also because of the French Period, before the new City Hall was completed. For years, therefore, meetings were held in a building on the Oude Boteringestraat.

Facts & Figures.

• Artist(s)
  Hermanus Numan

• Year of creation
  Unknown

• Dimensions (in cm)
  42x49

• Collection
  Town Hall Collection

• Technic
  Colored engraving