Town Hall in Tartu

Tartu Town Hall (Tartu raekoda in Estonian) is one of the landmarks of the second largest city in Estonia.The town hall of the university city of Tartu (German Dorpat) is located in the center of the largest southern Estonian city at the entrance to Toompea. It is the third town hall in the same place in the more than eight hundred year history of the Hanseatic city. The previous building from 1693 collapsed in 1726 after being severely damaged in the Northern War. The devastating fire in the old town in 1775 created both a need and an opportunity to erect a new council building.Architect Johann Heinrich Bartholomäus Walther from Rostock drew up the design for the new representative council building. The Dutch early classicism served him as a model. The town hall was built on a foundation of alder wood. The building was officially inaugurated in 1786 and finally completed in 1789 (Wikipedia).