History
Spišské Vlachy was founded in 1243 under the privilege of the Hungarian king Bela IV. The townspeople were then excluded from the jurisdiction of the zupan, they gained the right to freely choose the village head and the right to dispose of their own property. These privileges were confirmed in 1265 by King Stephen and in 1317 by Louis of Hungary. During this period, Spišské Vlachy turned into a small town, for which the town hall was built in the fourteenth century (the first known mayor named Fynth was noted in 1339, and in 1404 a certain Trumbold was mentioned, and after him Mikuláš Phas). In the 17th century, an additional annex was added to the tower and the town hall, and the whole building was rebuilt. The building was restored in 1886.
Architecture
The seat of the municipal authorities was located in the middle of the market square, which was elongated along the north-south line. On the western side, on the street leading to the town of Spišská Nová Ves, there was a parish church, while on the south-eastern side, the market frontage was crossed by a street running towards the river and the bridge. Originally, the town hall consisted of a rectangular building, to the north-eastern corner of which in the 16th century a lofty tower on a quadrangle plan was added, acting as a municipal watchtower. The older part was a small one-story building with an attic, illuminated by pointed windows and covered with a hip roof. The building was to house the chapel of St. Elizabeth.
Current state
Currently, part of the building of the former town hall serves as a Catholic church. It consists of a Gothic part (the western part and the tower) and an early modern extension (the eastern part, covered with a separate hip roof). The cupola on the tower has a Baroque form. Inside, there is a late-Gothic wing altar, supplemented with early modern figures.
bibliography:
Lexikon stredovekých miest na Slovensku, red. Štefánik M., Lukačka J., Bratislava 2010.
Pamiatková zóna mesta Spišské Vlachy, red. R.Kiráľ, Košice 2016.
Slovensko. Ilustrovaná encyklopédia pamiatok, red. P.Kresánek, Bratislava 2020.