Minsk City Hall is a symbol of the city government. It appeared in the city in connection with the acquisition of Magdeburg Law in Minsk including the 15 largest cities in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first mention of a stone building of the Minsk City Hall belongs to 1583. Later it was rebuilt many times and changed its appearance. In the XIX century it was the court, the police guardhouse, archive, and City Theatre. In 1857 Hall was destroyed by order of Emperor Nicholas I.
On the reconstruction of the Minsk City Hall first began in 1980. For a long time various archaeological research were carried out, d many historical documents, graphic and pictorial images were analyzed. Approximately 15 years were needed for experts to prepare a draft restoration work. The project was very complex in execution, but all the same Town Hall was restored to its historic location. Its appearance is the same as at the beginning of the XIX century. Even the thickness of the walls, as before, is half-meter. Reconstructed and adjacent to Town Hall Square, now looks almost like it was 100 years ago. The restored Minsk city hall was inaugurated on November 4, 2004.
References:The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.
Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.