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68-533: The town hall was originally constructed as the administrative building of the city founded on the left bank of the Warta in 1253 (see History of Poznań ). It was completed around 1300, during the reign of Wenceslaus II of Bohemia , and was first documented in Latin in 1310 as Domus Consulum . It was a one-storey Gothic building built upon a raised quadrangle . The cellars remain from this period of construction. The building

136-423: A classification of six demon classes , where clearly it is not all six, but just the fifth class of subterranean demons which are relevant to mining. This demon class is also equatable to Agricola's Cobali and "Getuli" (recté "Guteli") according to commentators. It has also been noted that Agricola distinguished the "mountain devil", exemplified by Rübezahl with the small-statured Bergmännlein . Although

204-559: A monograph on Berggeist ("mountain spirit") in the Grimms' Deutsche Sagen . The equivalent German appellations of the demons/spirits were made available by the subsequent gloss published 1563. Agricola here refers to the "gnome/mine spirit" is referred to by a variety of terms and phrases, such as virunuculus montanos ("montain manikin", i.e., German: bergmännlein ) or Greek/Latin cobelos / cobelus (German: kobel ) . The pertinent gloss, also quoted by Jacob Grimm, states that

272-587: A stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gnome This is an accepted version of this page A gnome ( / n oʊ m / ) is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy , introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depicted as small humanoids who live underground. Gnome characteristics are reinterpreted to suit various storytellers and artists. Paracelsus's gnome

340-453: A "spirit". However the elementals eat, drink and talk (like humans), distinguishing them from spirits. And according to Paracelsus's views, the so-called dwarf ( German : Zwerg, Zwerglein ) is merely monstra ( deformities ) of the earth spirit gnome. Note that Paracelsus also frequently resorts to circumlocutions like "mountain people" ( Bergleute ) or "mountain manikins" (" Bergmänlein " [ sic ] ) to denote

408-502: A German bushel or Scheffel  [ de ] . Nineteenth-century miners in Bohemia and Hungary reported hearing knocking in the mines. The mining trade there interpreted such noises as warnings from the kobolds to not go in that direction. Although the Hungarian (or Czech) term was not given by the informant, and called "kobolds" of these mines, they were stated as the equivalents of

476-411: A board with the date 1555, the year the work was completed. Artists' signatures, house marks and representations of their tools can also be found. The southern part contains representations of animals and legendary creatures (elephant, lion, leopard, eagle, rhinoceros, griffin , Pegasus ) and deities signifying heavenly bodies (the sun, the moon, Mercury , Venus , Mars , Jupiter and Saturn in

544-471: A broken column and temperance ( temperancia ) pouring water from a vase into a bowl. The last pair is of two famous women from the Ancient World: Lucretia ( Lucrecia ) with a spear through her own breast, and Cleopatra ( Cleapairi ), with snakes twisted around her arms. Between the ground and first floors runs a fresco in Latin text serving as a warning to judges. Below the first floor there

612-691: A limited discussion on the "metallurgical or mine demon" ( dæmon metallicus ) touching on the "Corona rosacea" mine disaster (cf. § Rosenkranz mine, Annaberg ) and the framework of Psellosian demonology (cf. § Demonology ). A Latin-German gloss in later editions identify the being he called daemon metallicus as cypher for German Bergmännlein ( Das bergmenlin [ sic ], "mountain manikin", general term for earth spirit or mine spirit). Much more details were presented in Agricola's later Latin work De animatibus subterraneis (1549) (cf. § De animatibus subterraneis ), known as

680-415: A nearby meadow. The goats escaped and ran up the town hall tower, where they attracted the attention of the townspeople when they began to butt each other (according to some versions, this drew attention to a fire which might otherwise have done significant damage). Because of the entertainment provided, the voivode pardoned both the cook and the goats, and ordered that two mechanical goats be incorporated into

748-412: A type of bucket mentioned by Agricola, has been suggested by Karl Müller-Fraureuth. Peter Wothers suggests that cobalt could derive (without connection to Agricola) from cobathia for noxious smoke. The erudite Swedish Olaus Magnus in his Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555) also provides a chapter on "demons in the mines". Although Olaus uses the term "demon" ( daemon ) and not

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816-590: Is a series of medallions with figures from the Ancient World: the brothers Gaius Gracchus and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus , Lucius Junius Brutus , Archimedes , Vitruvius , Virgil , Homer , Justinian I , Horace , Spartacus , and the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton . Above the loggia is an attic wall , which features a list of rulers of the Jagiellonian Dynasty from Władysław II Jagiełło and Jadwiga of Poland to Sigismund II Augustus . In

884-459: Is appended in the margin (pl. cobali , sing. cobalus ) They were thus called on account of them aping or mimicking humans. They have the penchant to laugh, while seeming to do things, without accomplishing anything. In classical Greek literature, kobalos ( κόβαλος ) refers to an "impudent rogue", or in more modern parlance, "joker" or "trickster". The chemist J. W. Mellor (1935) had suggested " mime ". These were otherwise called

952-454: Is designed in Renaissance style by G. B. di Quadro. It was originally used for important sittings of the city court. Over the entrance is a quotation from Aristotle's Politics , and on the hall side a quotation from the Third Psalm . The hall retains its original vaults with lunettes , supported by two columns and by corbels . The coffers and columns are ornamented (the ornamentation on

1020-705: Is navigable from Kostrzyn nad Odrą to Konin - approximately half of its length. The Warta connects to the Vistula via its own tributary, the Noteć , and the Bydgoszcz Canal ( Polish : Kanał Bydgoski ) near the city of Bydgoszcz . The Warta rises in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland at Kromołów in Zawiercie , Silesian Voivodeship , flows through Łódź Land , Greater Poland and Lubusz Land , where it empties into

1088-526: Is recognized to have derived from the German miners' legend about Bergmännlein or dæmon metallicus , the "metallurgical or mineralogical demon", according to Georg Agricola (1530), also called virunculus montanos (literal Latinization of Bergmännlein , = " mountain manikin ") by Agriocola in a later work (1549), and described by other names such as cobeli (sing. cobelus ; Latinization of German Kobel ). Agricola recorded that, according to

1156-663: Is to regard the lore of the various männlein or specifically Bergmännlein as essentially derivatives of the Zwerge / dvergr of pagan Germanic mythologies. In the 1960s there developed a general controversy between this "mythological school" and its opponents over how to interpret so-called "miner's legends". What sparked the controversy was not over the Bergmännlein type tale per se, but over Grimms' "Three Miners of Kuttenberg ", who are trapped underground but supernaturally maintain longevity through prayer. Siegfried Kube (1960) argued

1224-615: The Trullis (trolls?) as they are called especially by the Swedes, said to shapeshift into the guise of human males and females, and sometimes made to serve men. Purportedly a mountain demon incident caused 12 fatalities at a mine named Rosenkrans at Anneberg or rather Rosenkranz or Rosenkrone (Corona Rosacea ) at Annaberg-Buchholz , in the Erzgebirge ( Ore Mountains ) in Saxony . The demon took on

1292-453: The virunculos montanos , literally translatable into German as Bergmännlein , or English as "mountain manikin" due to their small stature (about 2 feet). They had the appearance of old age, and dressed like miners, in laced/filleted shirt and leather apron around the loins. And although they may pelt miners with gravel/pebbles they did no real harm, unless they were first provoked. Agricola goes on to add there are similar to

1360-711: The Polish Plain in a north-westerly direction to flow into the Oder at Kostrzyn nad Odrą on Poland's border with Germany . About 808.2 kilometres (502.2 mi) long, it the second-longest river within the borders of Poland (after the Vistula ), and the third-longest Polish river after the Oder (which also flows through the Czech Republic and Germany). Its drainage basin covers 54,529 square kilometers (21,054 sq mi). The Warta

1428-753: The Bergeist burrowing underground which guides miners to exact spots. In the Harz area, it is a being Bergmönch or "mountain monk" who uses the so-called "mining light ( Grubenlicht or Geleucht ) to guide miners to their quarry or to their exit. The lantern he holds is apparently an ignited lump of tallow ( Unschlitt ). It is also said that the Bergmönch was originally a mine supervisor who begged God to let him continue oversight of mines after death. If ignored it will angrily appear in its giant true form, with eyes as large as cartwheels, his silver lantern measuring

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1496-494: The Berggeist (instead of Bergmännlein ). Grimm also uses the Berggeist apparently as a type of Zwerg , but there has been issued a caveat that the meaning of the term Berggeist according to Grimm may not necessarily coincide with the meaning used by the proletarian Greverus. Gerhard Heilfurth  [ de ] and Greverus's Bergbau und Bergmann (1967) amply discuss the Bergmännlein . The collection of tales under

1564-591: The Berggeist of the Germans. Nineteenth-century German miners also talked of the Berggeist , who appeared as small black men, scouting ahead of miners with a hammer, and with their banging sound indicating whether veins of ore, or breaks in the veins called 'faults', and the more knocks, the richer the vein lay ahead. There is also a experiential report of a German mine sprite communicating residents and visiting their house (cf. Kobold#Visitors from mines ). The gnomes of Swiss folklore are also associated with riches of

1632-538: The Ptolemeic system . Also in cross-shaped coffers are the heads of Moses and of Christ, the latter accompanied by another house mark. On the western wall are two portals dating from 1508, which combine Gothic and Renaissance features. Gold-plated doors contain the Bohemian coat of arms, possibly dating from the time of Wacław II Czeski . Notable exhibits include a Venetian globe (1688), and busts of Roman emperors from

1700-421: The arcade columns on the ground floor are five pairs of female figures, the first four pairs representing virtues : patience ( paciencia ), with a lamb and prudence ( prudencia ) with a mirror; charity ( charitas ) with two children and justice ( iusticia ) with scales and a sword; faith ( fides ) with a chalice and sword and hope ( spes ) with a thurible and the sun; and courage ( fortitudo ) with

1768-505: The gnomi in the German edition (1567). There was a belief in early modern Germany about beings that lurked in the mines, known as Bergmännlein (var. Bergmännlin , Bergmänngen ), equatable to what Paracelsus called "gnomes". Paracelsus's contemporary, Georgius Agricola , being a supervisor of mines, collected his well-versed knowledge of this mythical being in his monograph , De amantibus subterraneis (recté De animatibus subterraneis , 1549). The (corrected) title suggests

1836-523: The "Rosenkranz" mine localized in Saxony was already given above in § Rosenkranz mine, Annaberg . This and other near modern attestations are given in Wolfersdorf's anthology (1968) above. German lore regarding gnomes or berggeist (mine spirits) regard them as beneficial creatures, at least if they are treated respectfully, and lead miners to rich veins of ore. The silver thaler minted by Duke Henry

1904-483: The 19th century they were in use as a restaurant. They were later used as museum rooms, and are currently being renovated. The ground-floor rooms were originally built in Gothic style, but rebuilt in Renaissance style by G. B. di Quadro; only one room retains the original vault . The architect also added two rooms with lunette vaults. One of the original uses of these rooms was for the town archives. The second floor of

1972-415: The 19th century, growing in popularity during the 20th century as garden gnomes . The name of the element cobalt descends from kobelt , a 16th century German miners' term for unwanted ore ( cobalt -zinc ore, or possibly the noxious cobaltite and smaltite ), related as mischief perpetrated by the gnome Kobel (cf. § cobalt ore ). This Kobel is a synonym of Bergmännlein , technically not

2040-504: The Greek term, cadmia . This cadmia / kobelt appears to have denoted a cobalt-zinc ore, but Agricola ascribes to it corrosive dangers to the miners' feet, and it is noted that smaltite , a cobalt and nickel arsenide mixture presents corrosive properties. This ore, which defied being smelted by the metallurgy of that time, may also have been cobaltite , composed of cobalt, arsenic, and sulfur. The presence of this nuisance ore kobelt

2108-620: The National Museum's collections). The hall features a Renaissance sandstone fireplace (1541), moved here from the adjoining weighing house when that building was demolished in 1890 (it was rebuilt in its original style after World War II). There is also a portal dating from 1536, moved from a house on the Old Market Square (Stary Rynek 87). The sala sądowa (courtroom) was used for minor court hearings. It retains Renaissance "mirror vaults", with polychrome decoration dating from between

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2176-553: The Oder near Kostrzyn at the border with Germany. The Greater Warta Basin defines the site of early Poland; it is said that the tribe of Western Polans ( Polish : Polanie ) settled the Warta Basin between the 6th and 8th century. The river is also mentioned in the second stanza of the Polish national anthem, " Poland Is Not Yet Lost ". This article related to a river in Poland is

2244-587: The Other Spirits by Paracelsus , published posthumously in Nysa in 1566. The term may be an original invention of Paracelsus, possibly deriving the term from Latin * gēnomos , itself representing a Greek * γηνόμος , approximated by " * gē-nomos ", literally "earth-dweller". This is characterized by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as a case of "blunder", presumably referring to

2312-617: The Town Hall was the scene of Heinrich Himmler 's Posen speeches . Following major damage in the Battle of Poznań (1945) , the Town Hall was again rebuilt in 1945–1954, when the Renaissance character of the elevations was restored (and extracts from the constitution of the Polish People's Republic were added to the text displayed on the attic wall). The eagle, which had been kept hidden during

2380-515: The Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel which features a " wild man " (cf. right) was seen to reassert his claim of complete ownership of the local silver and forest resources of the Harz Mountains , probably depicting the supernatural that miners believed led them to the whereabouts of silver ore. Even though the wild man above surface could be a vague supernatural guide, it is pointed out that it must be

2448-449: The beings which the Germans called Guteli (singular: Gutelos ; German : Gütel , var. Güttgen ), which are amicable demons that are rarely seen, since they have business at their home taking care of livestock. A Gütel or Güttel is elsewhere explained as not necessarily a mountain spirit, but more generic, and may haunt forests and fields. The Hoovers render these as "goblins". Agricola finally adds these resemble

2516-406: The building had a large renovation thanks to the efforts of the city's "Committee of Good Order", and it obtained the basic form which it presents today. A Classical -style tower roof was designed by Bonawentura Solari, topped by a white eagle with a two-metre wingspan. On the eastern elevation Franciszek Cielecki painted Jagiellonian kings, and under the central turret a cartouche was placed with

2584-441: The building towards the west, and added attic walls and a three-storey loggia . A new clock (installed 1551) was made with three full faces and one half-face, and with goats added as a "comic element" (see next section). In 1675 the tower, clock and goats were destroyed by lightning. The tower was rebuilt in 1690 to a height of 90 metres (300 ft). The top of the tower was destroyed by a hurricane in 1725. From 1781–1784,

2652-592: The building was originally used for utility functions; following World War II damage it was rebuilt as exhibition space, with ceilings modelled on those from the houses on the Old Market Square. However the first floor contained the grandest rooms, used for official purposes by the city's authorities – these include the Great Hall (Vestibule), the Royal Hall and the Courtroom, described below. The Great Hall or Vestibule

2720-527: The ceiling is sgraffito ). The coffers in the northern part of the room have polychrome stucco decoration showing Hercules and Samson , David and Goliath , and Marcus Curtius . The lower coffers show the coats of arms of Poland, Lithuania , the House of Sforza ( Bona Sforza was Polish queen consort to 1548), the Habsburgs ( Catherine Habsburg was queen consort from 1553) and Poznań, as well as an angel holding

2788-480: The centre is a small tower, at the foot of which the goats appear for their daily display. Below this is a clock, connected with the mechanism that controls the goats. Below that is the monogram of Stanisław II Augustus ("SAR"). Warta The river Warta ( / ˈ v ɑːr t ə / VAR -tə , Polish: [ˈvarta] ; German : Warthe [ˈvaʁtə] ; Latin : Varta ) rises in central Poland and meanders greatly through

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2856-484: The classification of "Berggeist" was already anticipated as far back as Friedrich Wrubel (1883). Later Franz Kirnbauer  [ de ] published Bergmanns-Sagen (1954), a collection of miner's legends which basically adopted Wrubel's four-part classification, except Wrubel's Part 2 was retitled as one about "Bergmännlein". In Karl Müllenhoff 's anthology (1845), legends No. 443 Das Glück der Grafen Ranzau and No. 444 Josias Ranzaus gefeites Schwert feature

2924-546: The dwarf's Nebelkappe (known as Tarnkappe in the Nibelungenlied ) slipped from being known as a cape or cloak covering the body in earlier times, into being thought of as caps or head coverings in the post-medieval era. As an example, he cites the Bergmännlein wearing a pointed hat, according to Rollenhagen 's poem Froschmeuseler . As can be glimpsed by this example, the approach of Grimm's " Mythologische Schule "

2992-481: The gloss reveals that the "metallurgical demon" ( daemon metallicus ) or Bergmännlein is somehow responsible for leaving a rich vein of ore ( fundige zech ), specifically a rich vein of silver. According to Agricola in De animatibus subterraneis (1549), these mountain-cave demons were called by the same name, cobalos , in both Greek (i.e. kobalos ) and German (i.e. kobel var. kobal ). The Latin form

3060-426: The gnome transformed into a raven and flew away. Years later, after Bolko had taken his father's place as trumpeter, when an attacking army was scaling Poznań's walls, Bolko remembered the present, ran to the top of the tower and began to play the trumpet. Dark clouds began to gather on the horizon, which turned out to be an enormous flock of ravens that fell upon the attacking army and forced it to retreat. The trumpet

3128-516: The guise of the horse, and killed the twelve men with its breath, according to Agricola. Agricola has a passage in Bermanus which is quoted by a modern scholar as relevant to the study of his contemporary Paracelsus. The passage contains the line basically repeated by Olaus, as "there exist in ore-bearing regions six kinds of demon more malicious than the rest". This is probably misstated or misleading, since Bermanus cites Psellus , who devised

3196-420: The king's initials: SAR ( Stanislaus Augustus Rex ). The next major renovation lasted from 1910–1913 (during a period of German rule), when black rustication was used to give the building a more "northern German" style. The original late renaissance polychromy was destroyed. An additional storey was added and the goats, which had been absent since 1675, were restored to the tower in 1913. In October 1943

3264-437: The late 16th and early 19th centuries. On the northern wall are personifications of four continents. On the wall to the right of the entrance is the painting Aeropagus Maioris Poloniae by Wacław Graff , which alludes to a court of 1726. Opposite the entrance is a marble statue of king Stanisław II Augustus , dating from 1783. The front of the building, facing east, features an ornately decorated, three-storey loggia . Between

3332-534: The legends of that profession, these mining spirits acted as miming and laughing pranksters who sometimes threw pebbles at miners, but could also reward them by depositing a rich vein of silver ore. Paracelsus also called his gnomes occasionally by these names ( Bergmännlein , etc.) in the German publications of his work (1567). Paracelsus claimed gnomes measured 2 spans (18 inches) in height, whereas Agricola had them to be 3 dodrans (3 spans, 27 inches) tall. Lawn ornaments crafted as gnomes were introduced during

3400-480: The measurement of what he calls the Bergmännrigen at "drey viertel einer Ellen lang", perhaps shy of one and a half feet. The mention of kobolde here as a name for the underground spirit is an unresolved contradiction to Praetorius dedicating a wholly separate chapter on the kobold as house sprite with a separate frontispiece art labeled "8. Haußmänner/Kobolde/Gütgen" for the house spirits. The anecdote of

3468-545: The mines. They are said to have caused the landslide that destroyed the Swiss village of Plurs in 1618 - the villagers had become wealthy from a local gold mine created by the gnomes, who poured liquid gold down into a vein for the benefit of humans, and were corrupted by this newfound prosperity, which greatly offended the gnomes. Grimm discusses the Bergmänlein somewhat under the subsection of Dwarfs ( Zwerge ), arguing that

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3536-507: The more ferocious of the "underground demons" ( daemon subterraneus ) were called in German Berg-Teufel or "mountain-devil", while the milder ones were called Bergmännlein, Kobel, Güttel . And the daemon metallicus "mine demon" aka Bergmännlein ( bergmenlein [ sic ]) is somehow responsible for depositing rich veins of ore (" fundige zech )" (specifically rich silver ore). A different entry in

3604-422: The new clock being made for the building. Another legend is associated with the hejnał . This says that Bolko, son of the tower's trumpeter , once took care of a raven whose wing had been shot through. The boy was then awoken at night by a gnome wearing a crown and purple cape , who thanked the boy for his kindness and handed him a small gold trumpet , telling him to blow it when in danger. After these words

3672-553: The noxious ore which Agricola called cadmia is clarified as that which German miners called cobelt (also kobelt , cobalt ), and a demon the Germans called kobel was held responsible for the mischief of its existence, according to the preacher. The kobel demon was also blamed for the " hipomane " [ sic ] or horse's poison (cf. hippomanes , § Rosenkranz mine, Annaberg ). Agricola, in his earlier Latin work Bermanus, sive, de re metallica (first printed 1530, reprinted 1546, etc.), did delve into

3740-525: The omission of the ē to arrive at gnomus . However, this conjectural derivation is not substantiated by any known prior attestation in literature, and one commentator suggests the truth will never be known, short of a discovery of correspondence from the author. Paracelsus uses Gnomi as a synonym of Pygmæi and classifies them as earth elementals . He describes them as two spans tall. They are able to move through solid earth, as easily as humans move through air, and hence described as being like

3808-472: The ore is characterized as a "gnome or a goblin" by science writer Philip Ball . However, 20th century dictionaries had suggested derivation from kobold , for example, Webster's in 1911 which didn't distinguish kobel from kobold and lumped them together, and the OED which conjectured that the ore kobolt and the spirit kobolt/kobold was the same word. An alternative etymology deriving kobolt ore from Kübel ,

3876-575: The popular notion was that Rübezahl was indeed lord of the gnomes, as told in folktales around the Risengibirge ( Giant Mountains ) region in Silesia, published by 18th century folktale collector Musäus . Agricola explaining that the "mine demon" dæmon metallicus or " Bergmenlin " somehow deposited "rich mines" was mentioned above. Agricola knew of certain noxious unwanted ores the Germans miners called kobelt , though he generally referred to it by

3944-456: The same as kobold , but there is confusion or conflation between them. The terms Bergmännlein / Bergmännchen or Berggeist  [ de ] are often used in German publications as the generic, overall term for the mine spirits told in "miners' legends" ( Bergmannssage ). The word comes from Renaissance Latin gnomus, gnomos , (pl. gnomi ) which first appears in A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on

4012-401: The same call is played on a carillon , installed in the tower in 2003. The daily appearance of the goats is one of Poznań's best-known tourist attractions. A legend behind the original addition of the goats to the clock mechanism states that a cook, while preparing a banquet for the voivode and other dignitaries, had burnt a roast deer, and attempted to replace it by stealing two goats from

4080-676: The subject to be "subterranean animate beings". It was regarded as a treatise on the "Mountain spirit" ( Berggeist by the Brothers Grimm , in Deutsche Sagen . Agricola is the earliest and probably most reliable source on Berggeist  [ de ] , then known as Bergmännlein , etc. Agricola's contemporary Johannes Mathesius , a Lutheran reformist theologian , in Sarepta Oder Bergpostill (1562) uses these various mine-lore terminology in his German sermon, so that

4148-470: The tale was based on ancient mythology, i.e., pagan alpine worship. This was countered by Wolfgang Brückner  [ de ] (1961) who regarded the tale as inspired by medieval Catholic notion of the purgatory . Whereas Ina-Maria Greverus (1962), presented yet a different view, that it was not based on organized church doctrine, but a world-view and faith in the miner's unique microcosm. Greverus at least in her 1962 piece, centered her argument on

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4216-495: The third and fourth centuries, excavated in Italy in the 18th century. The hall is currently used for concerts and for special weddings. The Royal Hall (Sala Królewska) was once richly decorated similarly to the Great Hall, and was used for meetings of the city council. It was partly restored in 1954 following war damage. Its name derives from the portraits of kings which once decorated the hall (the portraits on display today come from

4284-598: The uninvented coinage "gnome", the accompanying woodcut he provided (cf. Fig. right) has been represented as "gnome" in modern reference sources. Johannes Praetorius in Anthropodemus Plutonicus (1666) devotes a chapter of considerable length to the beings he calls Bergmännrigen or Erdleute "earth people", and follows Agricola to a large extent. Thus he considers earth spirits to be of two types, one more evil and sinister looking. The other, more benevolent and known as bergmännlein or kobolde . He gives

4352-456: The war, was returned to the tower in 1947. The mechanism that drives the goats was replaced in 1954, and again at the end of the century. Renovation carried out in 1992–2002 largely restored the building to its post-1784 appearance. Today the mechanical goats' butting display is performed daily at noon, preceded by the striking of the clock and the playing of a traditional bugle call ( hejnał ) . At other hours between 7 am and 9 pm

4420-461: Was blamed on the similar-sounding kobel mine spirits, as Mathesius noted in his preaching. The inferred etymology of kobelt deriving from kobel , which Mathesius does not quite elocute, was explicitly articulated by Johannes Beckmann in Beiträge zur Geschichte der Erfindungen (tr. English as The History of Inventions, discoveries and origins , 1797). The kobel spirit possibly the namesake of

4488-501: Was extended in the 15th century, and at the turn of the century a tower was built at the north-western corner. The interior was remodeled between 1504 and 1508. In 1536 Poznań suffered a major fire, which seriously damaged the town hall. Repair work was carried out from 1540–1542, particularly to the tower, but it remained unsafe. In 1550 the city council commissioned Giovanni Battista di Quadro to carry out major repairs. The work lasted until 1560. Di Quadro added an upper storey, extended

4556-629: Was lost when Bolko dropped it in his astonishment, but the call which he played is still performed. The interior of the town hall consists of cellars, a ground floor and two upper storeys. The building currently serves as a Museum of the History of the City of Poznań (Muzeum Historii Miasta Poznania) , a subdivision of the National Museum in Poznań . The cellars were built between the 13th and 14th centuries. There

4624-472: Was originally one large room with a supporting column in the centre; this was later divided into four rooms. Keystones feature the coat of arms of Poznań (crossed keys) and the Bohemian coat of arms (white lion with double tail) dating from the times of Wacław II Czeski . Until the 17th century the cellars were used to store goods, and in the 17th and 18th centuries they contained a prison and torture chamber. In

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