Stockholm City Hall

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Building information
Stockholm City Hall
Stockholm City Hall, seen from the south, across Riddarfjärden
Town	Stockholm
Country	Sweden
Architect	Ragnar Östberg
Client	City of Stockholm
Construction start date	1911
Completion date	1923
Style	National Romantic Style

Stockholm City Hall (Swedish: Stockholms stadshus or Stadshuset locally) is the building of the Municipal Council for the City of Stockholm in Sweden. Located at the shore of lake Mälaren on the island of Kungsholmen, the city hall was built on the location where the grand mill Eldkvarn once stood.

1 Construction
2 Architecture
3 Stadshusparken
4 Gallery
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Construction

In 1907 the city council decided to build a new city hall and announced an architectural contest which Ragnar Östberg won. Oskar Asker was employed as construction leader and Paul Toll, of construction company Kreuger & Toll, designed the foundations. The construction took twelve years, from 1911 to 1923. Nearly eight million red bricks were used. The dark red bricks, called "munktegel" (monks's brick) because of their traditional use in the construction of monasteries and churches, were provided by Lina brick factory near Södertälje. Construction was carried out by craftsmen using traditional techniques.

The building was inaugurated on 23 June 1923, exactly 400 years after Gustav Vasa's arrival in Stockholm. Verner von Heidenstam and Hjalmar Branting held the inaugurational speeches.

[edit] Architecture

Stadshuset is considered one of Sweden's foremost examples of national romanticism in architecture. It comprises offices and conference rooms as well as ceremonial halls. Inspired by Italian renaissance, Östberg constructed the entire building around two open spaces, a piazza called "Borgargården", and the Blue Hall ("Blå hallen"). The Blue Hall is in fact without blue decorations but has kept its name after the original design, which Östberg changed during construction. It is perhaps best known as the dining hall used for the banquet held after the annual Nobel Prize award ceremony. The organ in the Blue Hall is with its 10,270 pipes the largest in Scandinavia. Above the Blue hall lies the Golden Hall ("Gyllene Salen"), named after the decorative mosaics made of more than 18 million tiles. The mosaics make use of motifs from Swedish history.

The southeast corner of the the building is marked by a 106 metre tall tower crowned by the Three Crowns are visible, an old national symbol for Sweden. The tower is accesible by an elevator or by a stair of 365 steps.

[edit] Stadshusparken

The little park between the building and Lake Mälaren's shore is adorned with several sculptures, among them Carl Eldhs ensemble representing the three artists August Strindberg, Gustaf Fröding and Ernst Josephson, as well as Eldh's bronze sculptures "Sången" and "Dansen" ("Song" and "Dance"). To the south-east of the City Hall, facing Riddarholmen, is a pillar roughly 20 meters tall with a statue of Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson on top.

[edit] Gallery

Stockholm City Hall at night.	Stockholm City Hall, inneryard	Golden room in Stockholm city hall.	Stockholm City Hall on a summer evening.
Stockholm City Hall, view over Lake Mälaren in January.	Stockholm Stadshuset at sunset