It got more expensive and took longer than planned.

But for the Hanau soul, the renovation of the Neustadt town hall was definitely worth it.

From Friday to Sunday, the citizens and visitors from the region took possession of the reopened historic building on the market square.

For ten years, only the foyer could be used, the upper floors with the council chambers, the magistrate's council chamber and the parliamentary group rooms remained taboo due to the lack of fire protection, and the councilors trundled through the city halls for the meetings.

Luise Glaser-Lotz

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Main-Kinzig district.

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At the end of 2018, after lengthy discussions, the city councilors decided to refurbish the building. At that point, the representative building in the center of the city had hardly been usable for around six years.

Expenditure of around 9.3 million euros from the municipal budget was expected.

But the monument held serious surprises for the builders, the Hanau real estate and construction management company.

The foundations were missing under the sandstone supports in the basement.

The ceiling above the city council meeting room had to be completely removed for structural reasons.

It was replaced by a wooden ceiling with eight meter long elements, which were brought in through the window openings with a crane and a specially made lifting platform.

The previously undeveloped basement was opened up.

Part of a staircase from the early years of the town hall was found.

It can be visited on the basement level, where a toilet was also created.

Delivery problems in the construction industry and the corona pandemic also delayed construction progress.

In the end, the renovation costs amounted to around eleven million euros, nine million came from the municipal budget, and the state of Hesse added around two million euros via the Active Cores program.

In addition, the State Monuments Office subsidized the restoration of the balcony railings, and the Sparkasse Hanau Foundation took on the renovation of the carillon.

The building was gutted, the statics improved and the exterior facade renovated.

The Neustadt coat of arms with Hanau's patron saint Hanovia shines in new splendor on the historic balcony railing and the town hall clock again shows the correct time, said Lord Mayor Claus Kaminsky (SPD) at the official opening.

"The golden swan, Hanau's heraldic animal, turns again in the wind, and the glockenspiel sounds again over the roofs of the city.

And in December we will again be able to turn the town hall into the largest advent calendar in Hesse,” said the mayor.

The changes inside are extensive.

Because of fire protection, the representative staircase in the middle of the ground floor, where exhibitions can be held again and lectures can be given, has disappeared.

The town hall was only rebuilt in the 1960s

Behind a glass door there are two staircases and an elevator, so that the other floors are barrier-free.

On the first floor is the modern new meeting room for the city councillors, named after Elisabeth Selbert.

As one of the few women who participated in the drafting of the Basic Law, she enforced the principle of equality between men and women.

The magistrate's meeting room and the rooms for the factions are located on the second and third floor.

Just in time for the 425th anniversary of the founding of the new town, the work has now been completed and the "Hanaus Democracy Workshop" was able to fulfill its purpose again, as City Councilor Beate Funck (SPD) put it.

"Here the factions are now deliberating and deciding again,

The Dutch and Walloon religious refugees who built the new town in Hanau had to wait for their own town hall for around 100 years.

Even then, money was a scarce commodity.

In 1725, Count Johann Reinhard III.

from Hanau-Lichtenberg finally lay the foundation for it on the market square.

In 1733 the construction of the three-story building with its striking red sandstone facade was completed.

In the night of the bombing in March 1945, the entire city center fell into rubble.

The Neustadt town hall was not spared, but was not completely destroyed.

In the post-war period, there was a lot to do with creating living space for the surviving Hanau residents and the many displaced people.

There were heated discussions at the time about which of the historic buildings should and could be rebuilt.

At that time, the goldsmith's house and the Neustadt town hall were chosen.

The city theater and the city palace were left out.

But it was not until September 1961 that the reconstruction of the New Town Hall began.

The reopening took place in August 1965.

But things didn't go as smoothly as it sounds.

In an eyewitness report, Hans Heimerl recounted how it was back then.

The 92-year-old social democrat was managing director of the construction company during the reconstruction period and later a member of the state parliament.

According to him, the main topic of discussion was the design of the marketplace.

One question was whether the historical closed construction at the edge of the square should be resumed.

The Kaufhof's plan to claim the north side of the square for the construction of a department store was also very controversial.

The department store is still there today, and its facade from the 1960s is even a listed building.

A new town hall for administration was built in a large U around the Neustadt town hall.

To the right and left of the historic town hall, the previously closed buildings were abandoned.

This will remain the case even after the refurbishment.