Stockholm City Hall

On a previous trip to Stockholm our guide assembled us in the lovely park outside the Stockholm City Hall. The exterior of the building is beautiful enough, but we had never been allowed to go inside. Today is the day.

The building looks ancient, with statues, shields and other artifacts from Swedish history and legend. However, the building will celebrate its centenary next year. It is made to look old, yet it is not really so old as to be decrepit. The result is dazzling. Though the brickwork is not ancient, the bricks were dug from the pit that provided bricks for a famous old Swedish castle. They are also the same size. Harald Bluetooth would feel at home here.

The main reason I wanted to come here was because of our visit to the Nobel Prize Museum last week in Oslo. The Nobel Peace Prize is presented there. All the others (literature, medicine, chemistry, physics, economics) are presented in this building at a banquet in the so-called Blue Room. It isn’t blue at all. It is brick, but the architect originally planned to paint it blue. Once it was finished, however, he decided he liked it better unpainted. (I do too.) Still, he had previously hyped his plan in the press, saying it would be the Blue Hall, its color inspired by the color of the Swedish flag. So even though the architect changed his mind, the name “Blue Room” stuck.

The Blue Room has become the customary location for the presentation of the annual Nobel Prizes because it is the only room large enough to feed the 1,300 guests who attend the Nobel ceremony. There is a far more beautiful room in the building, the Gold Room, but it is not quite large enough to hold all the guests and the tables from which they feed. The Nobel event uses the Gold Room as a ballroom for the dance following the dinner. Either of these rooms would be big enough for a decent game of soccer. I was a teeny bit disappointed today because the Blue Room is being refurbished, and the scaffolds and equipment detracted a bit from its glory. Nevertheless, I could see enough of the room to get an idea of its grandeur, and let me tell you, you would not be embarrassed to have your friends over for dinner in this room. The only hitch is that it cannot be rented by individuals. Only institutions and organizations can reserve any of the rooms in the Stockholm City Hall.

There is one exception to this rule. There is one room with walls covered in beautiful tapestries. It is the Wedding Room. Each Saturday over seventy weddings take place in this room, and to reserve it, you have to call at least twelve months ahead.

As magnificent as the Blue Room may be, the room that causes every tourist to gasp is the Gold Room. The entire room, floor to high ceiling, is plastered with tiny flecks of glass tiles, each containing a sliver of gold. There are about 16 million of them covering the walls. Each one catches the light, and the effect really is breathtaking. Stylized characters in the golden mosaics represent great Swedes of the past, authors, scientists, artists, statesmen. A mosaic frieze around the cornice tells the human story from birth to death. A frieze on the other side of the room gives a brief history of Sweden, beginning with its founding in the Stone Age, and ending with a depiction of “The World War.” (They only knew of one when the artwork was completed in 1920). At the head of the room a queenly figure representing Stockholm sits on stones representing the eighteen islands that make up this city. She welcomes visitors from all over the world as she holds the prominent buildings of the city (including the royal palace, the parliament, and even the City Hall) in her lap. On the viewer’s left are representations of the Western World, such as the Statue of Liberty, the skyscrapers of Manhattan (as they appeared in 1920) and the Eiffel Tower. On the right are representations of the Eastern World, such as elephants, mosques and desert palm trees.

The Prince’s Room is somewhat more modest, but is nevertheless, a handsome example of modern architecture representing Sweden. On one side of the room windows look out onto the islands of the Stockholm Archipelago. On the other side of the room glows a wall mural giving an artist’s depiction of the same scene. Modern marble columns with faintly Egyptian capitals offer a space where a long table can run down the center of the room for the convenience of banqueters. This room also serves as the anteroom where Nobel recipients gather with VIP’s from around the world before they are presented to the multitude assembled in the Blue Room.

In addition to representing the Swedish nation, the Stockholm City Hall is also the seat of the local government. The city council of 100 members assemble late on the afternoon of the third Monday of each month to deliberate on the affairs of the 1 million citizens of Stockholm. All but a few of the members are part time politicians who hold down their regular day jobs as well. Anyone, Swede or foreigner, can observe City Council meetings seated in the two galleries overhead. Meetings are now also live-streamed on the internet.

I had long wanted to see the inside of this place, and today I was not disappointed in the least. This is probably one of the most magnificent non-ecclesiastical buildings I have ever seen. On your next trip to Stockholm, do try to make time to see it.Read more