It is one of the city's most recognisable buildings, since important decisions concerning the functioning of the city and the region have been made under its roof for some two centuries. The palace was built on the foundations of the former Bečkerek fortress, which existed here from 1528 to 1701. On the site of the former fortress the county building was erected, much more modest than the present one, which burned down in 1807 in the great fire that devastated the city and a number of buildings in the centre of Bečkerek. The new county building was built from 1816 to 1820 in the classical style, to designs by József Fischer, a famous architect from Budapest.