Historical market place of Bernkastel-Kues
In 1291 Bernkastel was able to acquire city rights at the instigation of Archbishop Boemund I of Trier. At this time the first town hall was believed to be in Bernkastel, built where it is today. The current facade of the town hall is a splendid work of the German late Renaissance by the Trier sculptor RH Hoffmann (built in 1608). Hoffmann's mentor and sponsor was Archbishop Lothar von Metternich (1599 - 1623), whose coat of arms and the Trier cross, in addition to the Bernkastel city coat of arms, still adorn the town hall bay to this day. The bay window rests on a basalt column and carries. on the baroque curved roof, a stone figure of Salvator mundi, the world redeemer with the globe.
On the left corner pillar of the facade on the ground floor there is still a pillory today, where the evildoers were (are) chained to the public pillars of abuse with chains and handcuffs.