Kuldīga Old Town Hall

The Old Town Hall can be regarded as the second town hall building in Kuldīga. The first town hall is believed to have stood in the market square that originally existed beside St. Catherine’s Church before the marketplace was relocated to the site of today’s Town Hall Square.

Since the 13th century, when a settlement of craftsmen and merchants developed around the fortified Livonian Order castle, Kuldīga had its own town council. The council consisted of the mayor (Bürgermeister), the town judge or Vogt, five councillors, and a clerk. The town hall accommodated the council chamber, the Vogtei (judicial office), the city’s official weights and measures room, a prison in the basement, beer and wine cellars, and quarters for the town guard.

Construction of the old town hall on the site of the present-day Town Hall Square lasted almost 30 years. The building plans and cost estimate were completed as early as 1626, but by 1653 construction had still not been finished due to a shortage of lime for mortar.

Originally, the town hall was smaller than the building seen today. It followed the traditional three-part floor plan with a central smoke chimney. The building was single-storeyed, raised on high stone foundations, with the town prison located in the vaulted basement. Its façade was symmetrical, with two windows on either side of the entrance. The town hall had a steep gabled roof covered with clay tiles. The 1626 construction estimate records that 2,000 roof tiles were to be transported from Ventspils. Oak planks and oak door frames were specified as the principal building materials.

During the 18th century, the building underwent several alterations and repairs. Nevertheless, by 1797 the town hall was described as being “in a state of ruin.”

When the citizens of Kuldīga restored the dilapidated town hall at 5 Baznīcas Street more than 200 years ago, it was no grander than the surrounding buildings. The light-painted timber structure, built of smoothly hewn logs, blended modestly with the town’s other wooden houses. At the time, Kuldīga had a population of approximately 1,352 people and contained only eight masonry buildings alongside about 120 wooden ones.

In 1806, the town hall underwent another major reconstruction. The building was enlarged and redesigned into a symmetrical composition with a central mezzanine. The council chamber and the caretaker’s room occupied the larger rooms on the ground floor, while the extension housed the guardrooms.

In 1847, the town hall was damaged by fire but was subsequently restored. There were plans to enlarge the building by adding a second storey; however, this proved impossible because the building regulations of the Russian Empire prohibited the construction of two-storey wooden buildings. Around 1868, the town authorities decided instead to erect a new, much larger masonry town hall adjacent to the existing one.

Despite numerous alterations over the centuries, the building has preserved its original vaulted basements, which once served as Kuldīga’s prison. It has also retained the classically symmetrical façades created during the early 19th-century reconstruction.

Over the years, the old town hall has served a variety of public functions. From 1923 to 1938, for example, the building housed a pharmacy. Later, its premises were occupied by the local cultural centre and various other institutions.

Today, the Old Town Hall is an important part of Kuldīga’s historic centre and cultural heritage. It is home to the Kuldīga District Tourism Development Centre, the folk applied arts studio “Varavīksne”, while the basement vaults house the tavern “Pagrabiņš.”

The building regularly hosts workshops, creative activities, exhibitions, and other cultural events.