Hotel de Ville

Dinant town hall is an impressive brick and limestone building .

The city of Dinant has had at least four councils.

The first known town hall was a tower built on the bridge . The problem of its narrowness was somewhat solved when in 1573 the tower and bridge were swept away by a great flood and sank into the waters of the Meuse.

While waiting for a suitable building (which took 12 years!), the town hall was temporarily housed in the cloth market (built in 1263) on the Grote Markt.

In 1585, the city acquired the house of the Lord of Duras, on Calle Dessous Meuse. It was a large square tower with a house and outbuildings, commonly called "Tour le Maire" . The counselors lived in this house for 178 years.

The fourth town hall was built in 1783 in the former residence of the prince-bishops of Liège.

The palace, called Regency, was set on fire by the Germans in August 1914. The reconstruction, which is relatively faithful to the original construction.

The town hall houses several works of art , including Mosan landscapes by STANFIELD, KINDERMANS, BARON, busts of Adolphe SAX, the Dinant inventor of the saxophone, and HUYBRECHTS, a Dinant musician.
It also contains a bronze bell from 1566 from the church of Dinant and a 16th century cannon found in the Meuse, weighing more than 100 kg.

Willem Vandenameele