1. Minsk City Hall

The history of Minsk City Hall is directly connected with the Magdeburg right that was granted to the city in 1499 by the Lithuanian grand duke Alexander (1461-1506). Minsk got the right to create its own institution of self-government - a city council, for the sessions of which the building of the City Hall was constructed. The first wooden building was erected in the first half of the XVI c. but the place of it remains unknown as the archeologists didn't find any rests of it. The stone building of the City Hall was built in 1582 instead of a wooden one. It stood on the territory of the Upper market, in the middle of the Cathedral square (Freedom square). During military conflicts the City Hall was repeatedly destroyed, but each time inhabitants of Minsk restored their symbol of the city. When the Russians came to power the city self-government was abolished. In the building of the City Hall at various times there was the court, a police station, a guardroom, an archive instead of the city council. In 1830 there was a musical school here and in 1847 - theatre.