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26-501: Bank Square may refer to several places Poland [ edit ] Bank Square, Warsaw United Kingdom [ edit ] Bank Square , Aberystwyth Bank Square , Dulverton, Somerset Bank Square , St Just in Penwith Bank Square , Wilmslow Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

52-407: A debating chamber for council meetings, office space for city employees, an archive room for official documents, and some degree of fortification lest the city be attacked. The Palazzo Senatorio has been the headquarters of the municipal government of Rome since 1144, making it the oldest city hall in the world. The Cologne City Hall of 1135 is another early example. The Palazzo Pubblico of

78-545: A rectangle . The synagogue was not rebuilt and currently in the same location is the Błękitny Wieżowiec office building. Under the communist Polish People's Republic , the square was renamed Plac Dzierżyńskiego (Dzierżyński's Square) after Felix Dzerzhinsky , a Polish-born communist politician and founder of the Bolshevik Cheka political police. In 1951, a monument to Dzierżyński (by Zbigniew Dunajewski)

104-422: A covered space to function as a marketplace at street level, and one or more rooms used for public or civic purposes above it. These buildings were frequently the precursors of dedicated town halls. The modern concept of the town hall developed with the rise of medieval communes . Much as a lord was based in his hall, the new councils which formed to rule the cities required a headquarters. This building needed

130-524: A monument to Juliusz Słowacki , by Edward Wittig (actually designed in 1932), was erected on the spot previously occupied by the statue of Feliks Dzierżyński. In front of the Błękitny Wieżowiec, there is a statue to Stefan Starzyński , the pre-World War II President of Warsaw, by Andrzej Renes. 52°14′35″N 21°0′8″E  /  52.24306°N 21.00222°E  / 52.24306; 21.00222 This Warsaw -related location article

156-407: A regional strategic authority. The Oxford English Dictionary sums up the generic terms: County Council administrations in parts of England and Wales generally operate from a base in a building called, by analogy, a " county hall " or "shire hall". Conversely, cities that have subdivisions with their councils may have borough halls. Scottish local government in larger cities operates from

182-549: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . City hall In local government , a city hall , town hall , civic centre (in the UK or Australia ), guildhall , or municipal building (in the Philippines ) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality . It usually houses the city or town council and at least some other arms of the local government. It also often functions as

208-630: Is a distinction between the Council House and the Town Hall , a concert and meeting venue that pre-dates it. In Sheffield , the distinction is between the Town Hall , the seat of local government, and the City Hall , a concert and ballroom venue. In Leeds , the Town Hall , built in the 1850s as a seat of local government, now functions primarily as a concert, conference, and wedding venue, many of its municipal functions having moved in 1933 to

234-754: Is made between city halls and town halls. The term is also sometimes (but more rarely) used as a name in Commonwealth countries: for example, for the City Halls of Brisbane in Australia, and of Cardiff , Norwich and Bristol in the UK. City Hall in Dublin , Ireland, is another example. City Hall in London, opened in 2002, is an exceptional case, being the seat not of a conventional municipal authority, but of

260-528: Is one of the grandest examples of the medieval era, serving as a model for 19th-century town halls such as the Rathaus, Vienna . Over centuries, the idea of civic representation along with notions of urbanism and public space evolved. Even the building form grew in size and the town hall concept expanded beyond Europe to become an established institution across the world. As the functions of government generally and municipal government in particular expanded in

286-680: The Republic of Siena and the Palazzo Vecchio of the Republic of Florence , both late-medieval town halls, date from 1297 and 1299 respectively. In each case, the large, fortified building comprises a large meeting hall and numerous administrative chambers. Both buildings are topped by tall towers, have ancient clocks against which townsfolk measured time, and have space for local archives of official documents. These features became standard for town halls across Europe. The 15th-century Brussels Town Hall , with its 96-meter (315 ft) tower,

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312-404: The quality of life of the community. In many cases, "town halls" serve not only as buildings for government functions, but also have facilities for various civic and cultural activities. These may include art shows, stage performances, exhibits, and festivals. Modern town halls or "civic centres" are often designed with a great variety and flexibility of purpose in mind. In some European countries,

338-590: The "City Chambers". Other names are occasionally used. The administrative headquarters of the City of London retains its Anglo-Saxon name, the Guildhall , signifying a place where taxes were paid. In a few English cities (including Birmingham , Coventry and Nottingham ) the preferred term is "Council House": this was also true in Bristol until 2012, when the building was renamed " City Hall ". In Birmingham, there

364-409: The "town hall" (and its later variant "city hall") became synonymous with the whole building, and, synecdochically , the municipal government headquartered there. The terms "council chambers", "municipal building" or variants may be used locally in preference to "town hall" if no such large hall is present within the building. The local government may endeavor to use the building to promote and enhance

390-431: The 19th and 20th centuries, the role of town and city halls became broader. Many cities established a reading room in their city hall, which later grew into a public library , typically in its own building. The central room in a town hall (the "hall" proper) began to be used for a variety of other functions; some cities installed a large pipe organ to facilitate public entertainment. In the 20th century, town halls served

416-775: The 19th century, under the Congress Kingdom , the square was designed to be an elegant area of the country's capital. Notable buildings included the Palace of the Ministry of Revenues and Treasury (a building reconstructed by Antonio Corazzi ), the Bank of Poland and the Warsaw Stock Exchange (also by Corazzi). The square was originally triangular -shaped. Between 1875 and 1878, the Great Synagogue

442-443: The new Civic Hall . Large halls called basilicas were used in ancient Rome for the administration of justice, as meeting places, and for trade. The development of the town hall as a setting for local governance meetings and decisions is historically related to the early cities in medieval Europe. The objective was to have engagement with the citizens in a public space by a representative civic authority. The oldest town hall in

468-551: The office of the mayor (or other executive), if the relevant municipality has such an officer. In large cities, the local government is often administratively expansive, and the city hall may bear more resemblance to a municipal capitol building. By convention, until the middle of the 19th century, a single large open chamber (or "hall") formed an integral part of the building housing the council and such other organs of government as supported it. The hall may be used for council meetings and other significant events. This large chamber,

494-427: The public as places for voting, examinations, vaccinations , disaster relief, and disseminating information through noticeboards, as well as for the more usual civil functions, festivities, and entertainments. Local councils have increasingly tended to move administrative functions into modern offices. Where new premises are designed and constructed to house local governments, the functions of an administrative office and

520-530: The term "town hall" may be used even in a city. This is often the case in the United Kingdom (examples being Manchester Town Hall and Liverpool Town Hall ), Australia ( Sydney Town Hall ), New Zealand , and elsewhere. People in some regions use the term "city hall" to designate the council offices of a municipality of city status . This is the case in North America , where a distinction

546-417: The time it would be occupied by routine administrative and judicial functions. In a smaller manor, a lord might even live in the hall with his family and retainers. Inasmuch as the manor was the primary local jurisdiction of medieval society, the hall was a place of great local importance. In the later Middle Ages or early modern period , many European market towns erected communal market halls , comprising

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572-470: The title Bank Square . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bank_Square&oldid=385306822 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Bank Square, Warsaw Created in

598-700: The town hall is the venue for the declaration of Christmas Peace , such as Turku and Porvoo in Finland and Tartu in Estonia . As symbols of local government, city, and town halls have distinctive architecture, and the buildings may have great historical significance – for example the Guildhall, London . City hall buildings may also serve as cultural icons that symbolize their cities. City Hall buildings often serve citizens in accessing government functions as well as providing vital symbolic roles for their communities. In Commonwealth countries ,

624-567: The world is Palazzo Senatorio in Rome , Italy, which is established in AD 1144. In the Early Middle Ages , the great hall , a single large open chamber, was the main, and sometimes only room of the home of a feudal lord . A great variety of activities took place in the hall, which was an all-purpose space. The lord would host banquets and other grand ceremonies in the hall, but most of

650-630: Was built on the eastern side of the square, across from the palace. At the time of its building, it was the largest synagogue in Warsaw and one of the largest in the world. After the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943, the Nazi occupiers blew up the building, destroying it. In the 1944 Warsaw Uprising , the remaining buildings on the square were destroyed. After the war, city planners reconstructed only its historic western part, changing it into

676-649: Was erected in the southern part of the square. Four decades later, in 1989, the statue's toppling helped mark the fall of communism in Poland . Bank Square's present-day landmarks include Błękitny Wieżowiec (the Blue Skyscraper), and the former seat of the Ministry of Treasury now serves as Warsaw's city hall , the seat of the President of Warsaw and the provincial office of the Mazovia province . In 2001,

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