Stockholm City Hall
I could see Stockholm’s famous city hall and tower across Riddarfjärden bay from my island of Gamla Stan. Completed in 1923, the complex is famous for hosting Sweden’s Nobel Prize banquet each year in December.
Tours were provided in English on the hour so I hiked across the Centralbron (central bridge) and joined a small group headed inside. The building was still the working hub of Stockholm municipal services so the only way to experience the interior was through the tour (pretty sure I’m not going to win a Nobel Prize any time soon).
We walked through the Blue Hall where the Nobel Prize banquet is held for 1,300 guests including that year’s winners, their invites (each winner gets 15), the Swedish Royal family and Sweden’s Prime Minister.
The Nobel Foundation awards prizes in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Literature and, most famously, Peace as depicted below. Can you guess which figure represents which award?
I appreciated many of the Swedish historical details within the building but there were many I didn’t quite grasp. Unfortunately the tour moved quickly so I could only snap a few pics and plan on researching later.
I especially liked the Rådsalen where the city council worked. The architect back in the 1920s had planned for a formal ceiling but when he saw the exposed wooden beams during construction, he changed course and capped the chamber in a striking Viking theme:
The most impressive room was aptly named the Golden Hall. Eighteen million gilded tiles covered the walls and formed mosaics depicting Swedish history. There were plenty of Vikings, medieval characters and creatures from Nordic lore. It was interesting that secular and not religious themes were expressed.
The centerpiece was a massive mosaic covering the back wall dominated by a seated woman. She represented the city of Stockholm with the region’s midnight sun above her head and waters at her feet.
Stockholm is depicted at the center of the earth with the western world on one side and the eastern world on the other. You could see how 1920s Swedes idealized America complete with skyscrapers, the Statue of Liberty, the Stars and Stripes, Native Americans and the White Star Line:
The weather had improved dramatically from the blustery conditions yesterday so I took the opportunity to explore more of the city. Many Stockholmers evidently had the same idea and were out walking, ice skating and enjoying their traditional Fika.
Hiking back toward Gamla Stan, I passed Sweden’s Parliament building, the Riksdag, guarded by Egyptian lions. Traditionally-neutral Sweden is a member of the EU but chose against using the Euro. However, I probably won’t touch any Swedish kronor since this is basically a cashless society. You use your card everywhere, even for a coffee.
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