Town Hall
The town hall is a historic renaissance building with a libary, assembly hall and exhibitions in the attic. To get access to the exhibitions you have to ask at the town museum.
The town hall was built in the early Middle Ages with dance hall and bread and meat hall. Symbols of all kinds of trades prove that it was the main trading place of town..
Chiroterium Monument
The oldest inhabitant of Hildburghausen is a Triassic archosaur that can be seen as an ancestor of dinosaurs, crocodiles and birds, and is more than 240 million years old. It’s called Chirotherium, which means ‘hand beast’. That name derives from its footprints that resemble the hands of apes or human beings.
Dr.Friedrich Carl Ludwig Sickler, the first Head Teacher of Gymnasium Georgianum, found the first fossil tracks of this animal in a quarry near Hildburghausen in 1833 and described them in 1834.
The monument of the Chirotherium next to the town hall attracts lots of visitors; it’s a four-meter long bronze statue of the hand beast in front of a plate showing replica of the imprints found in the stone quarry.
Town Museum
The museum was built in 1904,and restored 1989-1993.The museum is about the historical sights and the history in Hildburghausen. It provides visitors with information about historic figures, traditions and inventions made in town, e.g. powdered soup. You can see books that show Hildburghausen as a main publishing house with subsidiaries in London, New York, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, etc.
You can also learn about Therese of Hildburghausen and the town's link to the famous Munich Oktoberfest.
Temporary exhibitions, concerts and movie performances attract visitors too.
The museum is closed on Mondays.
Bibliographic Institute, Memorial to Joseph Meyer
Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), a 19th-century entrepreneur and publisher, founded his company in 1826.
Two years later he moved his business to Hildburghausen and opened the Bibliographic Institute.
Meyer did not only publish a famous encyclopedia, but also wanted to educate ordinary people. His motto was "Education sets you free", so he offered brochures at low prices, the so-called "Groschenbibliothek".
Nowadays the building is used as post office, the Volkshochschule (evening school), music school, hair stylist and the monument to Joseph Meyer.
The monument also provides information on Meyer's investments into railways.
Bismarckturm - Bismarck Tower
On the south borders of Hildburghausen you find the Stadtberg, a hill that is 496m high.
In 1892 a 15m-high observation tower was erected. The tower was named “Bismarck Tower” in 1905, on the occasion of the 90th birthday of Otto von Bismarck.
From 1967 to 1991 the area around the Bismarck Tower became a restricted zone as it served as a Soviet air surveillance base. The remnants of that base could be visited after 1991.
On 3rd October, 1998 the tower was re-opened. From its top you have a wonderful view of the town and its surroundings.