City Go

The loggia was an essential building in Venetian cities, it was the meeting place for the ruling class, where topics concerning politics, economic and commercial affairs were discussed. The Loggia seen in Heraklion was originally built in 1628 by orders of General Provisioner Francesco Morosini, who also promoted other important public structures in the city. During the Turkish rule, the building lost administrative importance, becoming the seat of the High Finance officer. As Crete became independent, the building was considered unsafe and people started demolishing the first floor. It was granted to the city in 1905 but restoration only started ten years later, at a very slow pace. After the Second World War restoration works started afresh and were concluded in the 1980s. In 1987 the building was awarded the "Europa Nostra" prize for the most successful restoration of a historical building with a modern use. Heraklion

The Hôtel de Ville has been the seat of the Paris city council since 1357 when the "mayor" (provost des merchants) of Paris, Etienne Marcel, bought the then called House of Pillars on behalf of the municipality. In 1533 King Francis I found the House of Pillars unsuitable of being the Town Hall of Paris, had it torn down and had a new, tall, spacious building constructed in its place. The works weren't finished until 1628. In 1835 two wings were added to the main building to provide more space to the expanded city government. In 1871, following the defeat of Napoleon III by the Prussian army, the Paris Commune took over the government of the city and chose the Hôtel de Ville as its headquarters. As anti-Commune troops approached the Communards set fire to the Hôtel of which only an empty stone shell was left. The reconstruction of the Hôtel started in 1873 and lasted 19 years, maintaining the 16th-century facade. On the facade are the statues of 338 famous Parisians.  ...

The Old Town Hall was established in 1338 as the seat of the Old Town administration. It consists of a complex of several gothic houses connected together. The oldest part of the complex consists of a tower which was completed in the 14th century. In 1410 the astronomical clock was placed on its south side. The most valuable monument and centre of all events of the past is the late gothic council hall with a richly decorated wood ceiling. There's also the gothic chapel from the 14th century, the Jirikoka hall named after the bust of king Jiri z Podebrad and the Brozikova hall taking up the height of two storeys, modified to its present form in 1910. In the underground, it's possible to access the city level several metres below today's level and it gives an insight of the beginning of the Old Town. Due to constant flooding, the terrain had to be artificially levelled so that as early as in the 13th century the original ground floor of the houses had already become...