Colchester Town Hall

The impressive town hall in Colchester is perhaps the most architecturally interesting of all the provincial city council buildings in Britain. On the place where it rises, since the early Middle Ages, there have always been official residences of the city authorities.

The town hall was built in 1902 by architect John Belcher. It is distinguished by extraordinary decorativeness, sculptures of outstanding countrymen on the walls of the facade and a magnificent clock tower. At the top of the tower, at an altitude of 50 meters, there is a bronze figure of St. Helena facing towards Jerusalem. It can be seen from every corner of the city.

In the hall of the town hall you are greeted by a glass stand, which lists the names of the residents of the city who died in two world wars. There are almost 1,500 names on these lists. On the wall of one of the corridors is a marble plaque in memory of those who were executed because of their religious beliefs.

The meeting room of the city council is decorated quite strictly: wooden panels on the walls, heavy oak furniture, chairs with green upholstery. But if you lift your head up, you can see the magnificent painted ceiling. The plot of the painting brings a kind of frivolity to the business atmosphere of the hall - 12 charming women in light clothes, holding hands, circling in a cheerful dance. Each of them symbolizes a specific month of the year, as evidenced by the inscriptions under the figures.