The old town hall in the center of Schifferstadt is one of the largest and oldest town halls in the Palatinate. The two-storey building stands freely on a square. The brick and plastered ground floor with corner ashlars was built in 1558. The formerly open hall has evenly sized round arch openings: five on the eaves side, three on the gable end. The openings are designed partly as portals, partly as windows. A covered staircase running along the northern eaves leads to the upper floor. The base of the stairs is bricked in one piece with the parapet. Under the stairs is the "Betzenkammer", accessible through a late Gothic archway. The canopy rests on wooden pillars and culminates in an eight-sided slated dome over the pedestal. The upper floor and the three gable floors from 1685 are made of half-timbering - a masterpiece of carpentry. On the upper floor there are male figures between the windows and andirons under the windows in the parapet area. "Fire goat" is originally a Germanic rune that was adopted in the design language of the half-timbered house: in this case a St. Andrew's cross made of curved wood. Some of the strong corner posts bear the year 1685. The storeys of the gable front are separated horizontally by wide framed timber. Two man figures frame the two groups of windows on the lowest gable floor. Beneath the windows, in the parapet area, curved decorative struts break up the compartments. In addition to the structurally necessary uprights and struts, the two top gables show curved decorative struts. The craftsmanship makes the Schifferstadt town hall an architectural gem.
Source: Agiro Verlag, Neustadt/Weinstr.