OSLO CITY HALL
Oslo City Hall is the heart of the city’s political and administrative life. The City Hall occupies an important place in Norway’s art history and architecture and stands out as a monument to future generations showing essential artistic directions from the middle of the last century.
The City Hall is first and foremost an arena for the political and administrative leadership of the city of Oslo.
The City Hall each year is visited by more than 100,000 guests and tourists, and it is the daily work place for approximately 450 city employees and politicians. Oslo’s “grand living room” is also the capital’s most important representational structure and serves as an arena for about 400 events large and small annually. One of the most well known of these is the presentation of Nobel’s Peace Prize. The Peace Prize has been given out in The City Hall since 1990. In addition The City Hall is used for receptions, lunches and dinners, celebratory meetings, presentation of apprenticeship certificates, civil confirmations and naming celebrations, among other events.
From The City Hall Square on the harbor side there is an entrance to the city information center and The City Hall Gallery. The Gallery has roving exhibitions. During the summer months there are frequent events and activities of all kinds at The City Hall Square.
SIZE
The building covers an area of 4,560 m2. The total floor space is about 30,000 m2 distributed over two towers with offices and a central building housing celebratory rooms and a city administration hall. The City Hall is one of Norway’s largest representational rooms with a floor space of more than 1,500 m2 and a ceiling height of 20.80 m.
The City Hall’s two towers are 66 m high (the eastern one) and 63 m high (the western one) respectively. The Mayor and the City Council Leader each occupy a corner office on the first floor. When The City Hall was inaugurated in 1950 the structure had only four outside bells. The carillon on top of the eastern tower dates from 1952 and originally consisted of 38 bells. In connection with the celebration of Oslo’s 1,000 year anniversary and the Town Hall’s 50 year anniversary in 2000, the carillon was expanded to have 49 bells which every day plays melodies every hour on the hour from 7 a.m. till midnight. All the bells are cast in bronze in an exact mixture of 78% copper and 22% pewter. The largest bell weighs a total of 4,000 kg. During the summer the carillon is regularly used to play concerts.
DECORATION
The City Hall building is richly decorated both inside and outside. In 1936 a competition was announced to decorate it. A number of distinguished artists were engaged in solving the many varied decorating tasks. The painters Henrik Sørensen and Alf Rolfsen have decorated the grand living room, the Main City Hall, with wall murals that depict our nation and our city from 1905 and until the peace celebration days of May, 1945. Johan Wilhelm Midelfart’s wall mural in the Banquet Hall, the City Hall’s dignified representation premises, has been joined by the royal portraits, Norway’s kings from the City Hall’s inauguration till today: Haakon VII, Olav V and Harald V, in addition to Queen Sonja. In the Celebration Gallery Axel Revold’s works set the tone and Edvard Munch’s paiting “Liv” adorns the Munch Room, however this painting was purchased especially for this room. In addition, many other well-known Norwegian artists, sculptors, and craftsmen contributed, such as Dyre Vaa, Per Krogh, Anne Grimdalen, Joseph Grimeland, Aage Storstein, Agnes Hiorth, Jonas Hidle, Nicolai Schiøll, Else Poulsson, Per Palle Storm, Dagfin Werenskiold, Alfred Seland, Per Hurum, and others.
Altogether The City Hall and its environs presents as a grand expression of the total artistic ability in Norway in the middle of the 1900’s.
HISTORY
In 1915 Kristiania’s mayor Hieronymus Heyerdahl presented a plan which combined the construction of a new city hall with the clearance of the old harbor slums in Pipervika. In 1918 Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson won the architecture competition, and their final design from 1930 is distinguished by the various trends which characterized the development of architecture during that time. The City Hall is stylistically unique because Arneberg and Poulsson united ideas from national romanticism, classism, and functionalism.
The foundation stone was put down in the fall of 1931. A new city center was gradually created on the old slum lots in Pipervika. The City Hall appeared as the looming cornerstone of a grand city rejuvenation plan. World War II delayed its completion and only on May 15, 1950 was Oslo’s new City Hall officially inaugurated.
OSLO’S PATRON SAINT
The legend of St. Hallvard is a continuous theme in the decorations of the City Hall. The sagas tell us that in 1043 a farmer’s son from a distinguished family by the name of Hallvard from Lier was supposed to have tried to save a woman from several assailants. Hallvard took the woman into his boat and headed out the Drammen’s Fjord to try to arrive safely on the other side. But they were caught and killed; Hallvard was shot with three arrows. Then his body was sunk in the sea with milling stone, but both his corpse and the stone floated to the surface. When this became known, people saw it as an omen and worshiped him as a local saint.
Hallvard was originally buried at Lier (southwest of Oslo). When the Oslo Cathedral was completed about 1130, his relics were taken there and placed in a shrine on the high altar. In about 1344 Oslo began using a city seal which depicted the legend of St. Hallvard. The drawing on today’s city coat of arms was designed in 1924, when Kristiania was changing its name back to Oslo. St. Hallvard sits on a throne consisting of two lions, against a starry sky. In his hands he holds a milling stone and three arrows. At his feet lies a woman. Surrounding this image is circular ribbon with the inscription Unanimiter et constanter Oslo (in agreement and determined). At the top of the city coat of arms is a castle crown.
St. Hallvard’s memorial day is May 15, and this day we like to call the Oslo Day.
