Town hall, Maastricht

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The Market Square (Markt) in front of the Town Hall (Stadhuis) was completely rearranged in the years 2006 and 2007. Traffic patterns were changed so that there are now hardly any cars in the square. But lots of bicycles, I’m happy to say.

At the Markt there is a free, covered, guarded bicycle parking facility (which I seem not to have taken a picture of).

When I was there they were starting to set up a stage and big loudspeakers for a concert or festival in the Market Square.

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The Maastricht City Hall dates from 1662, designed by Pieter Post of The Hague. It's the central building at the market square. For the construction of the building the market square was enlarged and a couple of buildings were demolished. The stones of those buidings were used for the foundation of the new building.

In 1684 during the French occupation the tower of the City Hall was completed.

Since that time not much was changed to the building, but the inner rooms have seen many new users.

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Stadhuis (city hall, in English) is located in the Markt. It was built among 1659 and 1665 on a project of P.Post.
It has a neo-classical facade with pilasters. The doorway has got a double staircase, designed to enable the two rulers of Maastricht, the Duke of Brabant and the Prince-Bishop of Liège, to enter the Town Hall simultaneously. In the tower (1684) is a Hemony carillon of 43 bells. Notable features of the interior are the tapestries, the stucco ornament, the ceiling paintings and the fine chimney pieces.

The Maastricht Town Hall is one of the most important works of architect Pieter Post. It was built between 1659 and 1654. The tower was added in 1684 and contains a carillon with 49 bells. Every Saturday the carillon is played. The interior offers interesting tapestry, stucco and chimneys. The imposing entrance hall is open to the public.

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The townhall, standing at the Market square has been built between 1659 and 1664. Its architect the famous Pieter Post has also built the Palace at the Dam in Amsterdam.

The townhall has a double staircase because Maastricht was under the governement of two different rulers who refused to use the same entrance in those days. The carillion in the tower of the townhall has 43 bells which are regularly played by the carillion-player of the town.

The rooms in the townhall are nicily decorated by Flamish wall-carpets from the 18th century, paintings from Dutch masters and furniture. In the hall the ceiling has a huge painting, depicting the four seasons, made by Theodore van der Schuer in the 17th century.

This unique building has been build in the 17 th. century by the famous Pieter Post, who also build the Palace at the 'Dam' in Amsterdam. This townhall has an interesting historical background. It has f.e. two different stairs. Dued to the fact, that, in the time it was build, Maastricht was under the gouvernement of two different Leaders: there were two prince-bishops, both with their own jurisdiction. When entering the Townhall they both claimed their own private stairs to enter the building at the first floor!! Nowadays much of these funny historical details can be explored by visiting the townhall. In the cellars you can f.e. find the old 17 th. century prison, called the 'spekkamer' (originally called 'chambre des suspects')a very scary small prison, in which it is not pleasant te be locked up!! Another interesting feature is the tower of the building. It has a carillion containing 49 clocks! Nearly every day the city's carillion-player is playing up on it, The interior of the building is also very interesting. The Townhall has several rooms ('chambres') for he major, citycouncil etc, which are beautifully decorated by huge wall-carpets, each of them tells a different story! And, when walking around in the townhall, one should finally look up: there are some great paintings on the ceiling!

The Town Hall in Maastricht is absolutely huge. It is located on the big market square and sits in the center of town. The city hall was built in 1664 vy Dutch architect Pieter Post. When there is no market on, the square is used as a parking place. If you have the time take a look inside the town hall, it's absolutely marvelous. The Town Hall is in the UNESCO top 100 for the Netherlands.

One of the main features of the Town Hall is the double staircase. This was done to please the former rulers of Maastricht. Years ago Maastricht was governed by two seperate governments. And it so happened to be that the 2 heads of the government hated eachothers gust. It was so bad that they refused to walk through the same entrance. Therefore they created two entrances with two staircases.

The town hall was designed in Dutch Classical style by architect Pieter Post and built in 1664. The picture shows the back, but at the front you'll see that this building has two stairs to the entrance. There's a story about it. Maastricht traditionally was ruled by two masters. First these were the prince-bishop of Liege and the duke of Brabant, but in the 80-Years War the duke of Brabant (in the person of king Philip II of Spain) was replaced by the protestant stadtholders of the Republic who in Maastricht were forced to be more tolerant towards catholics than they had been in the other areas they had conquered. To prevent that the bishop or the stadtholder had to let the other person go first, each got his own stairs. At least, that's what a popular myth wants us to believe. It seems an unlikely story though; in this architectural style there was a strong emphasis on symmetry and double stairs were quite common. So why should there be a special reason for such stairs only because it's in Maastricht?

Oh yes, the reason why I show the back of the building is that there always seems to be a market at the front. At least on Fridays there is. Obviously I've never been here on another day.

The City Hall is right on the Markt square. It was designed by the architect Pieter Post and built between 1659 and 1664. It is typical Dutch Renaissance style. Pieter Post was the assistant of Jacob van Campen who was involved in the architecture of the Palace on Dam sqaure in Amsterdam! The Stadhuis can be visited from Monday to Friday

Maastricht's town hall looks really beautiful. There's a huge market square around it which is a big car park when there's no market. Markets are only held on Wednesday and Friday morning, 8.00 a.m.-1.00 p.m.