Zprávy památkové péče 2019, 79(2):116-133 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2019.2.03

City Hall in Nymburk - the transformation of a heritage property and its original appearance

Michaela Ramešová

ÚTAM AV ČR

The Nymburk City Hall is one of the most important buildings of Czech architecture from the first half of the 16th century. Its present appearance, however, upon which most interpretations have been based, is the result of a series of later encroachments on the original appearance of the property. This text seeks to clarify their nature and circumstances. The City Hall was originally a storage house but was adapted as the headquarters of the city council after 1523. According to historical records, the City Hall was added onto until the middle of the 16th century. The building was later severely damaged by multiple fires. After the last fire (1838), it was modified so much that it lost its original character. The City Hall then served various purposes. Despite some minor repairs, it was not, or could not be, given more careful attention. It was not seen as a heritage property, and the building consequently deteriorated. Targeted negotiations concerning the repair of the City Hall can be observed since 1911, but they were always accompanied by a number of difficulties. Several plans gradually emerged to modify the City Hall, but none of them were realized. A design by Kamil Hilbert from 1914, which would have given the building a monumental character by completing its historicizing gables, was deemed too expensive for the city. The initiative to save the City Hall was undertaken in the late 1920s by the eminent Nymburk native, Emil Zimmler. With his contribution, the design of Mr. and Mrs. Mencl emerged, guided more by contemporary aesthetic criteria. However, this was also not realized.
The decision to locate the district authority in the building (1935) finally provided the definite impetus to restore the heritage property. At the request of the Ministry, the adaptation process was overseen by the State Heritage Authority in Prague. The adaptation plan, proposed by Josef Šebek in 1936 in an effort to adapt it to "the current life and organism of the city", did not sit well with Emil Zimmler, who tried to push through a different proposal which would have been more in line with the expected original appearance of the building. In particular, he strove for the creation of a gable. His aim was to give the City Hall a more monumental form than the proposed designs had included. Apart from his personal preferences, his approach probably also reflected a generation gap. Nonetheless, Šebek's plans were carried out almost unchanged by the office of Bohumil Sláma. E. Zimmler continued to follow the course of the adaptation, carried out in 1938-1939. The works met with difficulties caused by the economic situation and by the war.
After the war, the building underwent a series of changes, all of which reflected different attitudes toward the property. None of them, however, was as fundamental as the actual adaptation. During restoration work carried out as part of the last general modification of the Town Hall, which took place in 2003-2004, remarkable findings were made. These findings can be used to reflect on the original appearance of the monument to which some earlier interpretations also referred.
The remains of polychromy found on the portal show that the entrance to the City Hall in the 16th century was colorful. This paint, however, was removed during the adaptation. The vault of the arches was characterized by vivid polychromy evoking plant shapes. This was renewed during the adaptation, unlike the portal's color scheme. (The approach chosen for the adaptation thus seems rather fragmented.) The arcade paintings also disappeared for unknown reasons, however, probably sometime in the 1950s. The remains of polychromy can still be found on the blocks of the building's facade and jambs. In general, we can conclude that the facade of the City Hall originally had a more complicated composition and was covered by contrasting red and white paint; other sculptural and painting decorative elements were also applied. According to contemporary references, it seems likely that the building was originally fitted with gables and towers. Moreover, the available iconography shows that the City Hall may have undergone a significant transformation as early as the 16th century. If the interpretation of the sources is correct, it was first covered with a tented roof, which is captured by a veduta from the University Library in Würzburg (1536-1538). Later it acquired a triple stepped gable, which appears to have been recorded in the first quarter of the 18th century by Friedrich Bernhard Werner and Johann Joseph Dietzler (according to whom Nymburk was drawn by Johann Anton Venuto).
From the materials collected so far, it seems quite clear that the original appearance of the building was fundamentally different from the relatively austere appearance it bears today. The attitude towards the City Hall, however, naturally also differed throughout different periods; even during the course of a single modification, there lacked a central cohesion. The perception of the heritage property always depended on the period and individual criteria. The theses put forward by this text should also be considered in a similar fashion.

Keywords: City Hall in Nymburk, 16th century, history of architecture, heritage care, 20th century, Emil Zimmler, Josef Šebek, colors of architecture

Published: June 1, 2019  Show citation