Death of Pewterer

The fire that broke out on the 9^th May 1528 in the tailor's (Wolfgang Mose) workshop located by Kapturowa Street (today Franciszkańska Street) rapidly spread to surrounding buildings and finally reached the Town Hall Tower which went up in flames.

The residents of Świdnica did not look at the force of nature passively. While saving their houses and personal property they did not forget about – how to name it today – public utility buildings. In the chronicle notes referring to this fire we can find information on heroic pewterer (craftsman making products out of tin and bronze) who made an attempt to save equipment of the Town Hall Tower including its precious clockwork with chimes. Unfortunately, the history did not retain his surname. The 17^th century chronicle of Usler an Seiler informs us that a pewterer in question „wanted to protect the tower and clock but the stream of molten lead and burning parts fell on him and there were only guts that were left”.

He was not the only victim of the fire of the Town Hall Tower. After it was extinguished during cleaning the site of the fire and ashes on the working townspeople there fell down a part of one of the burnt up walls of the town hall which buried under the ruins six workers. The history did not however retain their surnames (as in the case of heroic pewterer) although they were probably the only „victims” of the Town Hall Tower mentioned in chronicles.

Source: Marek Furmankiewicz - „Historia i plany odbudowy wieży ratuszowej”, „Rocznik Świdnicki 1998”, Heinrich Schubert - „Szkice z historii miasta Świdnicy”.