Rathaus Eisenstadt

The town hall in Eisenstadt, capital of Burgenland, stands in the main street on a site occupied since the 17th century. Its 27-metre front is dressed in rusticated plaster rising to the upper windows, broken by three oriels and a bold entrance framed in diamond-point rustication. The two round oriels at the ends rest on columns, the central rectangular one on three stone brackets, while the middle oriel carries a sundial and the town’s coat of arms. The upper storey panels between the windows are filled with painted figures. From left to right they show virtues as women—Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Wisdom, Strength and Temperance—each labelled in Latin. To the right of the central oriel biblical scenes illustrate judicial wisdom in Solomon’s Judgement, love of home in Judith and Holofernes, and the surrender of rank for insight in Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. A broad attic crowns the façade, masking a three-part hipped roof whose projecting gables are softened by curved gablets. Inside, the Renaissance ceiling of the entrance hall survives from the 1650s, though most of the present interior dates from a remodelling around 1760. The wall paintings were recreated in 1949 by Rudolf Holzinger after original patterns, and the building was last refurbished in 1959. Behind the historic structure a modern extension was built between 1999 and 2001, after which the old town hall underwent full restoration.