Town Hall, Kalush

Every decent city that respects its history should have a town hall, according to the Galician tradition. Kalush, which once boasted a beautiful classicist town hall, was no exception. Read on to find out what happened to it.

In the summer of 2013, a massive fire broke out in the center of Kalush. It was the old city magistrate's building that was burning, and photos of it soon spread all over the news. It was left in ruins. However, according to local historian Andrii Kostyshyn, the town hall used to add a certain solidity and charm to Kalush.

According to various versions, the town hall in Kalush was built in the early 20th or last years of the 19th century. However, its history dates back to the Middle Ages, as it is known that in 1549 Kalush received the Magdeburg right and built the first wooden town hall building. Crowded fairs were held on the square in front of it. Unfortunately, there is no information left about what the Kalush town hall looked like, which burned down during the Khmelnytsky Revolution, or the stone building that existed until the 19th century.

The classicist town hall with elements of modernism and a dome decorated with four clocks most likely appeared in the city in the early 20th century. However, the elegant L-shaped building was used not only for city council meetings, but also for holding prisoners. Most often these were disobedient peasants who were sent to Drohobych or Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk).

During the Second World War, the town hall was used as a German administration, and during the Soviet era, as a district party committee. From the 1970s until 2005, the building of the Kalush Town Hall was under the care of the Department of Agriculture.

In the early 2000s, Kalush decided to start reconstructing the town hall, but the construction was delayed for a long time. And the valuable architectural monument of local importance began to deteriorate. Eventually, the destruction was completed by fire.

Today, there is an initiative group in Kalush that seeks to engage the public and the city authorities to restore the Town Hall, and with it the authentic face of Kalush. Of course, it is impossible to fully restore what has been lost, but with the help of historians and architects, it is possible to rebuild an updated copy of the Kalush City Hall.