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The construction of this town hall of Middelburg, Zeeland, The Netherlands began in 1452 and lasted until 1520 (!) It would be a combination of city hall, meat market, and cloth hall. This combination of features was very common in the medieval years. The town hall has a facade with Gothic windows (late Gothic style), red and white shutters, turrets and twenty-five sculptures of Zeeland counts and countesses of that time. It has a tower with a clock and a carillon. The former meat market in the town hall nowadays is used as a exhibition space for contemporary art. The town hall burned out inside completely in 1940 (as the result of WWII bombing). Old paintings and parchment documents were lost, only the outside survived the disaster. The reconstruction started in 1945 and was finished in 1950. The town hall was used as a town hall until 2004. Since 2004, the Roosevelt Academy (university) is partly located in the town hall. Furthermore the town hall is used now for wedding ceremonies in the wedding hall on the ground floor, and on the first floor official receptions for citizens take place.

This B&W image is my weekly entry for the Wednesday B&W challenge.