Town Hall

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The Town Hall was built in 1533 over the Puerta de Teba arch.

The whitewashed walls are graced by a double row of balconies. Worthy of note is an arcade supported on embedded double columns. Next to arcade are the remains of a former mirador overlooking the Plaza. Two, long and wide balconies with pink carved stipites support the screws that go into the wall.

A little further down, another house with arcade balconies with wrought-iron railings stands in the corner. The last house is an example of 17th-century domestic architecture, buildings with simple façade that play with the shadows and look over the city while they are seen from the square.

Part of Osuna’s coat-of-arms is engraved on the Town Hall’s arcades: a tower and two chained bears. The tower usually has three turrets. A bare-breasted woman peeks out from behind the turrets. It has been argued that this female figure is the goddess Cana; others say that she is a creature that lives in the tower, similar to the enigmatic winged sphinx which has the head and breast of a maiden. The bears are always symmetrically placed and tied by the neck to the architecture with a chain.

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