Københavns Rådhus
كوبنهاغن
Copenhagen City Hall is the large red-brick palace on Rådhuspladsen, City Hall Square. It was built between 1892 and 1905, and its tower rises over a hundred metres.
The city's sixth town hall
Copenhagen has had at least six town halls. The oldest stood in the medieval centre. Two were destroyed by the great fires of 1728 and 1795. At the end of the 1800s the city was growing fast and needed a bigger building.
A site was chosen outside the old centre, where the city walls once stood. In 1888 a large Nordic exhibition was held here. Then, after a competition, the project went to the architect Martin Nyrop. The building opened on 12 September 1905.
What to look at
The façade on the square is the most decorated part. In the centre, above the main door, is the golden statue of Bishop Absalon. Along the edge of the roof, six bronze statues stand guard over the city's coat of arms.
High up, the toothed edge recalls the top of a medieval castle wall. The tower is 105.6 metres tall. Nyrop wanted the building in bare brick, with no plaster on top.
A palace for the citizens
Civil weddings are held in the City Hall. The wedding hall was first planned as a museum: that is how the city museum began.
Inside there is also Jens Olsen's World Clock. Besides the time, it shows the starry sky above the building and the time around the world.
