The Znojmo town hall tower ( cs, Znojemská radniční věž) is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

tower situated in the city of

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian ...

, a historic city in

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The ...

, Czech Republic. The

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

was contracted by Znojmo counselors in 1445 and was built by a local stonemason Nicholas of Edelspitz (Sedlešovice) in 1445–1448. The unique slim tower has a complex, elegant roof construction containing two galleries with characteristic

spires. From the top of the galleries in the tower both the inside and outside of the city could be viewed, giving much needed warning of an advancing enemy. In a soviet air-raid during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the tower was hit by a falling bomb. The bomb slithered off the roof of the tower, destroying the old town hall below. The destroyed building was later developed in the communist era into a controversial concrete department store.

References

Buildings and structures completed in 1448 Towers completed in the 15th century Znojmo Gothic architecture in the Czech Republic Buildings and structures in the South Moravian Region Tourist attractions in the South Moravian Region {{CzechRepublic-stub