Freiburg's town hall is in fact two adjoining late-Gothic houses, joined by a bridge and painted in a deep ochre that catches the afternoon light. The older half, the Altes Rathaus, was once two patrician homes; the council took them over and merged them in 1556. A glockenspiel in the gable plays daily at noon.
The Rathausplatz in front is one of the most agreeable corners of the old town. A statue of the Franciscan monk Berthold Schwarz — credited (probably wrongly) with inventing gunpowder in Freiburg around 1350 — stands at its centre. Cafés spill out under the trees, and the square is quieter than the busy Münsterplatz around the corner.