Stockholm City Hall

Stockholm City Hall, the City Hall of Stockholm, Sweden, is home to the seat of city government and the city parliament. It is located on the southeastern tip of the island of Kungsholmen on Riddarfjaerden in Lake Mälaren. Was at the same place until its destruction by fire on 31 October 1878, the steam-powered mill Eldkvarn.

Formation

The Town Hall was built in 1911-1923 by architect Ragnar Östberg in the style of the Swedish National Romanticism and inaugurated on 23 June 1923. The construction took over the company Kreuger & Toll of which later became famous as " Zündholzkönig " businessman Ivar Kreuger. The east and south wings overlook the lake and are summarized by a 106 meter high corner tower, which is crowned by the imperial coat of arms Tre Kronor.

It was originally planned on this property an office building ( rådhus ) to build, which should accommodate the magistrate and the City Court. From this 1903/ 04 organized architectural competition design Ragnar Östbergs emerged victorious. However, the city government decided shortly thereafter to build on this plot a representative building for the city government and the city council. Ragnar Östberg was asked to revise his contribution in this sense, while the runner-up in the competition was Carl Westman with the construction of the office building, today's Stockholm rådhus commissioned on a property in the area. Östberg held in its new draft to the main features of his first draft, that can go the symbolic relationship to the water and the dominant corner tower. At the same time he attacked in Mediterranean elements, especially from Venice, the expression in Buergerhof ( Borgargården ) and the Blue Hall ( Blå halls ), which is not the way blue find.

Shaping

For the configuration and setup of the town hall, many artists were involved. At the design worked, inter alia, the painter Axel Törneman, Einar Forseth and Prinz Eugen, the furniture designer Ernst Spolén, Melchior Wernstedt and Carl Malmsten and textile artist Maja Sjöström. The Stadshusparken decorate statues of the sculptor Carl Eldh, including the trilogy of 1923, " Author " Författaren ( August Strindberg ), " poet " Skald ( Gustav Fröding ) and "painter" malar (Ernst Josephson ), the first because of their nudity strong protests provoked.

Particularly noteworthy are the reception rooms of the Town Hall, such as the Golden Hall ( Gyllene salen) to those exported by Puhl & Wagner gold mosaics based on designs by Einar Forseth, the Council Chamber ( Rådsalen ) in which every third week the Stockholm city government convenes the gallery Prince ( Prinsens galleri ) and the Blue Hall ( Blå halls ), in which the feast is held on the occasion of the awarding of the Nobel Prizes each year.

One of the wooden town hall gates, the Huvudportal, consists of black oak. The wood comes from the 1676 level Dalarö sunken sailing warship Riksäpplet ( orb ), which until 1676 served as the flagship for the then vice-admiral in 1675 and in 1921 blew up at the wreck site at a depth of 15 m in order to reuse the wood can.

Stadthausturm

The tower is inspired by the tower of the old royal palace Three Crowns, which was destroyed by fire in 1697. The tower is 106 meters high and used by the 2.5 million bricks approximately 24,000 tons. Until the spire with views over the city there are 365 steps. The rise occurs in narrow, seemingly endless corridors directly behind the outer walls of the tower. As you climb you first passes the spectators gallery ( åhörareläktaren ) and a large iron door that leads to the Maiden's Tower, named after the princess waiting for the rescue of Saint George behind barred windows; it is placed on top of the tower.

In the Tower Museum are models of busts and statues of the townhouse issued, as well as samples for the mosaics of the Golden Hall. The outstanding exhibit is the statue of St. Erik, the patron saint of Stockholm, which was designed by the brothers Sandberg for the open spire. With its 7.6 m height, the statue could not be transported in a conventional way there - therefore skylights were created by pulling all levels of the tower. With a crane in the spire statue should eventually be transported to the top. However, the architect Ragnar Östberg changed his plans and designed the spire instead as an open observation deck.

Earlier in the circle passage there are four plaster models of the statues, which were planned for the tower terrace above location: Mary Magdalene, Saint Clare, Saint Erik and St. Nicholas.

Through the tower passage through leads to the roof where the wood frame of the bell tower, the wooden tower begins. Above are the transmission of the carillon and mentioned crane for the statues.

About the observation deck, the copper tower, the tower terrace at 73 m height with the four aforementioned saint. Mary Magdalene, Saint Clare and Saint Erik facing their respective parish. Saint Nicholas does not belong to a church, he is the patron saint of sailors.

Further up are the nine tower bells. The largest bell, a gift from Holland, weighs 3 tons and is named after St. Erik. The smallest bears the name of St. George. Among the bells is the view of the city, an embossed copper plate with the sights as a guide.

The three crowns on the top of the tower are each 2.2 m long and point in the direction of the old castle Three Crowns.

External views

The spire with the three crowns

Stadshusets terrace

Courtyard as a stereographic projection HDR

Patio with view to Riddarfjaerden

The Huvudportal of black oak from the sailing warship Riksäpplet

Trilogy: Fröding, Josephson, Strindberg. ( Photomontage )

Interior Views

Rådsalen

Rådsalen ( roof )

The Stadthausturm

Sankt Erik in the Tower Museum

The Tower Museum

View to northeast

Sunrise Stadthausturm

Statues in the Tower Museum