Stockholm's starkly beautiful City Hall

More information on Stockholm:
www.stockholmtown.com



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City Mayors reports news from towns and cities around the world. Worldwide | Elections | North America | Latin America | Europe | Asia | Africa |


City Mayors ranks the world’s largest, best as well as richest cities and urban areas. It also ranks the cities in individual countries, and provides a list of the capital cities of some 200 sovereign countries. More


City Mayors profiles city leaders from around the world. More


City Mayors describes the history, architecture and politics of the greatest city halls in the world. More


Mayors from The Americas, Europe. Asia, Australia and Africa compete for the World Mayor Award. More


Use
Mayor Monitor to rate the performance of mayors from across the world More


In your opinion: Praise Criticise. Write


City Mayors reports political events, analyses the issues and depicts the main players. More


City Mayors describes and explains the structures and workings of local government in Europe, The Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. More


City Mayors deals with economic and investment issues affecting towns and cities. More


City Mayors describes and explains financial issues affecting local government. More


City Mayors reports urban environmental developments and examines the challenges faced by cities worldwide. More


City Mayors reports on and discusses urban development issues in developed and developing countries. More


City Mayors reports on developments in urban society and behaviour and reviews relevant research. More


City Mayors invites readers to write about the people in their cities. More


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City Mayors lists and features urban events, conferences and conventions aimed at urban decision makers and those with an interst in cities worldwide. More



City Mayors deals with urban transport issues in developed and developing countries and features the world’s greatest metro systems. More


City Mayors examines education issues and policies affecting children and adults in urban areas. More


City Mayors investigates health issues affecting urban areas with an emphasis on health in cities in developing countries. More


City Mayors reports on how business developments impact on cities and examines cooperation between cities and the private sector. More


City Mayors examines the contributions history and culture make to urban society and environment. More


City Mayors examines the importance of urban tourism to city economies. More


City Mayors questions those who govern the world’s cities and talks to men and women who contribute to urban society and environment. More


City Mayors profiles national and international organisations representing cities as well as those dealing with urban issues. More


City Mayors reports on major national and international sporting events and their impact on cities. More


City Mayors lists cities and city organisations, profiles individual mayors and provides information on hundreds of urban events. More


Stockholm City Hall
By Gregor Gosciniak

19 June 2005: Among Sweden’s 290 municipalities, the City of Stockholm is, with a population of some 700,000 the country’s largest city. Stockholm's beautiful historical City Hall was built between 1911-1923 by architect Ragnar Östberg and is one of Sweden's most popular buildings in the National Romantic style. It is the political centre of the Swedish capital and its best-known landmark.

Stockholm City Hall is dominated by its tower, which offers a panoramic view of the city. The building holds behind a stark but powerful façade an array of offices, meeting rooms and banqueting halls. Inspired by the palaces of the Renaissance, Stockholm City Hall was built around two piazzas named ‘Blue Hall’ and ‘Borgargården’.

One of the most impressive rooms of City Hall is the Council Chamber, which is used for the regular meetings of Stockholm City Council, held every Monday evening. The public gallery of the Council Chamber seats 200 people. The ceiling with its virtual opening was built in the style of a traditional Viking longhouse. The room is decorated with unique old furniture textiles.

The so-called ‘Oval’ at City Hall was created for the Tureholm tapestries, which originally came from Beauvais in France at the end of the 17th century. Today the popular room is used for weddings. Another interesting room is the Blue Hall, which is not blue at all. The original idea was to paint the room blue, but after seeing the wonderful red brick, the architect Ragnar Östberg changed his mind and decided not to cover the bricks with blue colour.

Since all plans of the building already indicated the room as Blue Hall, and since the name already was commonly used, it is still called Blue Hall. The Blue Hall houses one of Northern Europe’s largest organs with over 138 stops and 10,000 pipes.

Being the building’s largest room, the Blue Hall is used for the Nobel Prize Banquet. The Nobel Prize is considered one of the world’s most important awards. The prize was established by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel to call attention to the most important work in the areas of literature, economics, chemistry, medicine and peace. The first prizes were awarded in 1901. The prize can only be awarded to individuals, and no more than three people may share a prize.

The Peace Prize is an exception to this rule and can be awarded to institutions. On 10 December every year, the date of Alfred Nobel’s death, the prizes are presented in Stockholm by the Swedish King. The Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Oslo.

Official city receptions are held in ‘The Gallery of the Prince’ which houses Prince Eugen's al fresco painting the ‘Shores of Stockholm’. The bay windows were created by J A G Acke.

Another important feature of City Hall is its ‘Golden Hall’, which contains more than 18 million mosaic pieces made of glass and real gold. Here Einar Forseth created a magnificent banqueting hall for up to 700 people. From its north end wall, the Hall is dominated by the ‘Queen of the Lake Mälaren’, which is representative of Stockholm being honoured by East and West.

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