It catches the viewer's eye even from afar: the imposing tower of the old town hall. The building that takes first place among the secular buildings in Regensburg was built here at a central location. The Old Town Hall was created when Regensburg was made a free imperial city in 1245. The oldest part is the 55 meter high tower. Around 1320/1330 the Reichssaal building was built with the Reichssaal, which was originally intended as a dance hall. The building had its heyday from 1663, when the Everlasting Reichstag met exclusively in Regensburg in the Old Town Hall for almost 150 years. For centuries, not only was the heart of the Free Imperial City of Regensburg beating here, the Reichstag Hall is considered the forerunner of the German parliaments, the European Union and even the UN. The Old Town Hall in Regensburg was probably the most important building in Europe at the time. Here you can still really feel the past.