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The two fish in the town’s coat of arms are still a reminder of the fish-rich Obersee and Niedersee lakes, which looked like white lakes from afar due to their sandy bottoms. They gave the town its name.
The Romanesque town hall of Weißensee is the oldest town hall in Thuringia and one of the oldest town halls in Germany. It was first mentioned in 1198 as the stone house of the market master. It served as his residence and official residence and its basic Romanesque structure can still be seen today between the 15th and 16th century extensions.
In 1265, Weißensee was granted town charter by the Wettin Albrecht, Landgrave of Thuringia and Count Palatine of Saxony. Anyone who owned land, was of free and legitimate birth and had no pending lawsuits was allowed to take the oath of citizenship.
In 1296, councillors first appear in the sources as “consules”. The duties of the councillors were to tax the sale of bread, meat, beer and wine, to check the wine master’s accounts, to tax households and also to re-survey parcels of land, fields, meadows and vineyards.
With the granting of the town charter, Weißensee was given its own jurisdiction and the Rastherren were also judges for the lower jurisdiction, the so-called skin and hair court, as well as the upper jurisdiction, also known as the throat and hand court. Most of the cases concerned wills, but also insults, fights, slander or compliance with the tavern rules (statuta thaberna).
The town hall – first mentioned in 1351 as consistores civitatis wiszense – has been in constant use for more than 800 years and its architectural history reflects the history of an entire town. The central location is the magnificent council chamber, which was used as the seat and meeting place of the council, as well as for meetings, celebrations and dances. The town hall was the seat of civil servants with several writing rooms, archives, an armory, a prison and the town’s own mint.
In 1547, drastic reconstruction measures were commissioned by Henry the Pious, Elector of Saxony. A town hall clock is mentioned for the first time in 1592. In 1840, the town hall also housed the district administration office (Landräthliches Büro) until the Prussian district administration office at Weißensee Castle was completed. The lavish painting of the town hall hall with a view of the town from 1650 dates from 1907.
Extensive renovation work and the addition of the new administration building ensure that municipal affairs in Weißensee are still conducted in a modern, yet historically impressive location, just as they were more than 800 years ago.
