Bremen City Hall and Roland

Bremen City Hall and the Roland statue on the city's Market Square form a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the showpiece of the old Hanseatic city of Bremen in northern Germany. Built from 1405 and later given a lavish Weser Renaissance facade, the town hall is considered the only late-medieval city hall in Europe that was never destroyed. In front of it stands Roland, a stone knight raised in 1404 as a symbol of civic freedom. Together they are among the most rewarding sights in northern Germany.

Why it is a World Heritage Site

UNESCO listed the ensemble in 2004 as outstanding evidence of civic self-government and market rights as they developed in Europe over centuries. The original Gothic hall had an open ground floor for merchants and townspeople and a great hall upstairs for the council, an arrangement that still exists. Statues of the emperor and the seven prince-electors from the building period still line the market side.

Around 1608, architect Lüder von Bentheim added the ornate facade, with a central bay, a Flemish-style gable and a riot of reliefs, angels and mythical creatures. A larger "New Town Hall" by Munich architect Gabriel von Seidl was added at the back between 1909 and 1913. The building still houses the mayor and the Senate, the government of the city-state of Bremen.

The Roland statue is 5.47 meters tall, and with its base and canopy the monument reaches 10.21 meters, making it the largest freestanding statue of medieval Germany. Roland, the legendary paladin of Charlemagne, holds a drawn sword and a shield with the imperial eagle, a message to the archbishop that Bremen claimed its freedoms directly from the emperor.

Things to do around the Market Square

• Admire the facade and the Roland, free and open around the clock.
• Find the Town Musicians of Bremen, the famous bronze donkey, dog, cat and rooster by Gerhard Marcks, on the west side of the town hall.
• Join a town hall tour to see the Upper Hall with its hanging ship models, the Art Nouveau Golden Chamber and the banquet hall.
• Have a meal in the Ratskeller, the historic wine cellar beneath the building.

Town hall tours and tickets

The town hall is a working government building, so you can only go inside on a guided tour run by Bremen Tourism (as of October 2026):

• English tours: daily at noon; German tours several times a day
• Price: from €9.50 per person; children up to 12 go free with a free ticket
• Duration: about one hour

Dates are released only about a month in advance and tours are canceled during Senate receptions or meetings. Buy tickets online or at the tourist information office on Böttcherstrasse. Bags, backpacks and umbrellas must be left in the cloakroom, and there are no restrooms inside.

How to get to Bremen City Hall

Bremen is about an hour from Hamburg by train and roughly three hours from Berlin or Frankfurt. From Bremen Hauptbahnhof (main station), walk about 15 minutes through the pedestrian old town or take a tram to Domsheide. Regional trains and city transit accept the Deutschlandticket.

Is it worth visiting?

Yes. The Market Square is one of the finest in Germany, and the town hall tour is good value for an hour of history. Come at dusk, when the town hall and the cathedral are floodlit, then explore the nearby St. Peter's Cathedral, the expressionist Böttcherstrasse and the tiny lanes of the Schnoor quarter. Locals say touching the donkey's front legs at the Town Musicians statue brings good luck.