Szlaki województw śląskiego i opolskiego

The Otmuchów town hall is a 16th-century three-story building founded by Jakub Salzy, Bishop of Wrocław. At the beginning of the 17th century, on the initiative of Bishop Jan Sitsch, a town hall tower with a Renaissance helmet and a gloriette was created, which served as an observation point and a place for transmitting signals about fires and disasters. The entrance to the tower leads through two-flight stairs, created during the 19th-century reconstruction of the town hall. The 16th-century sundial visible on two walls of the building, called the Paracelsus Clock, was funded by Bishop Marcin Gerstmann. Originally, it was located on the wall of the castle chapel, which was demolished in the first half of the 19th century. Its style refers to the forms of Silesian Mannerist art. In addition to the bishop's coat of arms, two clock faces, ornaments, and inscriptions, one can see on it two medallions depicting images of an infant lying on a wall with an hourglass, with a skull and beads hung around the neck against the background of a tripartite gate. According to legend, during the plague that visited Otmuchów, a certain doctor cured the child of a city guard. However, he was not allowed into the city, because during the epidemic contacts with strangers were forbidden. The doctor found shelter in a suburban forest, where he treated the sick for some time, and then disappeared without a trace. Having learned that it was Paracelsus — the famous German doctor from Switzerland – the inhabitants placed an image of the infant on the clock as a memento as the first victim of the epidemic cured by him. The edifice is also distinguished by Renaissance decoration in the sgraffito technique. Currently, the building is the seat of the municipal authorities of Otmuchów. Practical information: The facility is not open to visitors. Parking spaces directly below the facility.