The most imposing building on the Hauptmarkt (main market square) is the City Hall. After a devastating fire in 1403, it was rebuilt in the style of the high and late Gothic period. The Jakobskapelle (Chapel of St James) dating from the period 1473 to 1477 survives in its original state. The late Gothic triple-nave room is remarkable for its ribbed vaulting, for its Renaissance doorway, and for its murals completed in 1614.
The City Hall was given its neo-Gothic façade in 1866/67. The Zwickau city arms are boldly displayed above the main entrance. A two-year period of renovation and restoration came to a successful conclusion in 2011, since when the whole building has shone in renewed splendour.
During the Reformation, the city was governed by a council which, at a very early stage, showed itself to be sympathetic to these new ideas. Müntzer found his greatest advocate in Erasmus Stüler (also known as Stella) who served as alderman and mayor. Bürgermeister Hermann Mühlpfort was a close friend to Luther who preached to a crowd which was said to number 14,000 from a window in the City Hall on 1st May 1522.
Robert Schumann will have been a frequent visitor to the City Hall in the 19th century. The wife of Bürgermeister Ruppius was godmother to Robert Schumann and helped to bring him up for a two-and-a-half-year period between 1813 and 1815.
