Nesvizh. The town hall.

The first graphic image of the Nesvizh Town Hall building has come down to us on an engraving by Tomasz Makowski (about 1604). An old engraving indicates that the tower housed the city clock and an observation deck. The magistrate's building, built with the funds and efforts of the citizens, for several centuries has been the main authority for each member of the urban community to resolve pressing issues. The Town Hall was built in 1596, some researchers attribute the authorship of the architectural project to Giovanni Bernardoni, the creator of the Nesvizh Orthodox Church.

Shopping malls consisting of numerous cells-shops were built in the same style in Nesvizh. In the XVII century. there were 52 stone shops. There used to be passageways between them and the town hall building, which were closed by massive gates. In the "Magdeburg period" (the end of the XVII century - 1836), on the ground floor of the Nesvizh Town Hall there were trading shops, a city weighing room, a guardhouse, a weapons warehouse for citizens in case of danger, a special room for storing fire tools. The second floor was reserved for the offices of the magistrate. It housed the hall of the Rada, the courtroom, the courtroom, the archive, the treasury, the offices of Voight and burmasters, as well as the city archive with administrative books and privileges given to the city by kings and Radziwills.

During the Northern War, the town Hall burned (the Swedes burned down Nesvizh himself, and at the same time his Town Hall), it was rebuilt in 1752, already in the Baroque style. At the same time, a "broken" stone staircase on stone pillars was built in front of her, which led from the square directly to the second floor. The shopping malls were extended beyond the town hall, where they joined, surrounding it on three sides and forming a closed U-shaped courtyard.

The great fire of 1836 caused irreparable damage to the building, especially the rooms on the second floor were damaged. The fire destroyed an Orthodox church, about 100 residential buildings, and 44 shops. The Town Hall was severely damaged: the entire second floor and the four upper tiers of the tower were completely burned down. The mayor of the city barely managed to take out "a chest with government money, privileges and part of the archive" from the burning building. The tower was reduced from six to four tiers. It was from this time until the end of the XIX century. the town hall was in a neglected state. Repair work was carried out with varying degrees of intensity almost until the end of the existence of the Russian Empire. Since the end of the XIX century until 1939, the city Duma, the district head, the police and the city council were located here.

After II After the World War, the town hall housed the district House of Culture, later the House of Pioneers and Schoolchildren, and a children's library.

 From 1997 to 2004. on the architectural monument of the XVI-XVIII centuries.  Restoration work was carried out in the City Hall. As a result, the facades of the building acquired their original appearance, the upper tiers of the tower were restored, the city clock was decorated again (as in the XVI century), the interiors of the 2nd floor were reconstructed for the museum exposition "City Government of Nesvizh XVIII - the first half of the XIX centuries".  The work was carried out at the expense of the republican budget.