The town hall was originally built in the late 13th century following the founding of the medieval city in 1253; it was rebuilt in roughly its present-day form, in mannerist style, with an ornate loggia, by Giovanni Battista di Quadro from 1550–1560.

The display of mechanical fighting goats, played out daily at noon above the clock on the front wall of the building, is one of the city's main tourist attractions.

The town hall was originally constructed as the administrative building of the city founded on the left bank of the Warta in 1253 (see History of Poznań).

[3] A new clock (installed 1551) was made with three full faces and one half-face, and with goats added as a "comic element" (see next section).

From 1781–1784, the building had a large renovation thanks to the efforts of the city's "Committee of Good Order", and it obtained the basic form which it presents today.

A Classical-style tower roof was designed by Bonawentura Solari, topped by a white eagle with a two-metre wingspan.

Following major damage in the Battle of Poznań (1945), the Town Hall was again rebuilt in 1945–1954, when the Renaissance character of the elevations was restored (and extracts from the constitution of the Polish People's Republic were added to the text displayed on the attic wall).

Today the mechanical goats' butting display is performed daily at noon, preceded by the striking of the clock and the playing of a traditional bugle call (hejnał).

Dark clouds began to gather on the horizon, which turned out to be an enormous flock of ravens that fell upon the attacking army and forced it to retreat.

The second floor of the building was originally used for utility functions; following World War II damage it was rebuilt as exhibition space, with ceilings modelled on those from the houses on the Old Market Square.

The coffers in the northern part of the room have polychrome stucco decoration showing Hercules and Samson, David and Goliath, and Marcus Curtius.

The lower coffers show the coats of arms of Poland, Lithuania, the House of Sforza (Bona Sforza was Polish queen consort to 1548), the Habsburgs (Catherine Habsburg was queen consort from 1553) and Poznań, as well as an angel holding a board with the date 1555, the year the work was completed.

The southern part contains representations of animals and legendary creatures (elephant, lion, leopard, eagle, rhinoceros, griffin, Pegasus) and deities signifying heavenly bodies (the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in the Ptolemeic system.

Gold-plated doors contain the Bohemian coat of arms, possibly dating from the time of Wacław II Czeski.

The hall features a Renaissance sandstone fireplace (1541), moved here from the adjoining weighing house when that building was demolished in 1890 (it was rebuilt in its original style after World War II).

Between the arcade columns on the ground floor are five pairs of female figures, the first four pairs representing virtues: patience (paciencia), with a lamb and prudence (prudencia) with a mirror; charity (charitas) with two children and justice (iusticia) with scales and a sword; faith (fides) with a chalice and sword and hope (spes) with a thurible and the sun; and courage (fortitudo) with a broken column and temperance (temperancia) pouring water from a vase into a bowl.

The last pair is of two famous women from the Ancient World: Lucretia (Lucrecia) with a spear through her own breast, and Cleopatra (Cleapairi), with snakes twisted around her arms.