Gottfried Semper und der Rathausbau : Politische Ikonologie im 19. Jahrhundert

The political symbolism in the work of the architect Gottfried Semper can be best recognised in his town hall projects. He considered the town hall to be a Com­mission of the greatest significance, worthy of being designed as a dominant town architectural element. Only one of his town hall plans was ever realised: the one in Winterthur, near Zurich in Switzerland. With forms borrowed from classical antiquity, it is a special case among historicist town hall buildings. Designed to serve as a programmatical building for a democratic reform movement, Semper endowed it with the characteristics of a national monument and a miniature parliament.