Kjøbenhavns Raadhus - Hovedbiblioteket.info

Lund, and founder of Copenhagen, attired in ecclesiastical
vestments, with sword and crosier, standing against an
ornamented background, and covered by a canopy (Fig.
223-24).
In the middle of the parapet of the facade of the front
building is placed the arms of Copenhagen, executed in
copper; at the sides are six figures of watchmen who
constituted the police in ancient times, executed in bronze
after models by Carl Aarsleff. Besides the colour of the
various materials, such as tiles, limestone, granite, copper,
bronze, and the slates of the roof, the effect is further
heightened by rich gilding (Fig. 73. 100. 127).
Through the main door one enters a spacious, vaulted
vestibule, in which the eye immediately falls upon Madame
Agnes Slott-Möller's semicircular, painted limestone relief,
over the inner door, representing the city's most ancient
council, a meeting, in the 13th century, of aldermen
presided over by the bishop’s sheriff; above, there is the
apothegm, also a product of the artist's genius, „Saa er By
som Borger" i. e. „Like Citizen, like City". This terse
aphorism is repeated many times, both inside and outside
the building, now in full and now indicated by the four
initial letters (Fig. 97. 229).
On the one side of the vestibule is the enquiry office,
and on the other the messenger's room. Round three sides of
the hall, which is entered from the vestibule, runs a closed
corridor with windows opening to the hall. From this
corridor there is access to the offices, and also to two
winding staircases which lead up to the corridors of the first
floor, which contain doors opening on the balconies (Fig.
233). In the hall the white limestone is the predominant
effect in the two lowest stories, but, above, the brickwork
asserts itself, and the nineteen bold granite columns from
which spring the arches of the second story, constitute the
most prominent features of the three sides that they grace
(Fig. 234-40). The remaining side, that of the Central
building, is in the principal floor - the assembly room -
made rich by colouring and gilding. The hall, which is
23,70 m. wide, 44,25 m. long, and 18,83 m. in height to the
cornice, is, in virtue of its capacious dimensions, in an
eminent degree adapted to accomodate a great assemblage
of people on ceremonial occasions. In the limestone frieze
which demarcates the first and second stories, there are
earthenware inscriptions briefly and tersely recounting the
principal events in the history of Copenhagen (Fig. 275-78).
The hall is covered by an ironwork construction which
carries an upper roof of rough plateglass and a lower roof of
stained glass. At each side of the Central building there is a
passage by which the principal staircases are reached (Fig.
203-5). In the Central building itself are two small doors
which lead to the two winding staircases, by which the story
is reached, where are situated the museum and archive
rooms (Fig. 241-44). Whilst communication between the
various apartments of the City Hall is easy and convenient
throughout, the ceremonial chambers in the front building,
however. lie somewhat apart, and in order to reach them
from the main entrance, the hall must first be traversed, and
the principal staircase ascended to the second floor; this
comparative isolation is the result of the architect's deliberate
design to place these apartments in a position where
they would not be affected by the daily business of the
building (Fig. 249-51).
The pillared hall, with high oak panels, before the
offices, was designated as a memorial chamber, to
commemorate the men and women, who, through their
merits or services, have occupied a place of honour in the
history of the city. In the doors, which open on the
staircases leading up to the galleries of the banqueting hall,
are surpassingly beautiful carved oak reliefs by Harald
Slott-Möller, representing a monk listening spellbound to
the enchanting song of a bird, thus symbolising, in a
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beautiful and ethereal manner, release from reality and the
commonplace of daily life (Fig. 252-55).
In the wings, adjacent to the principal staircase, are,
situated opposite to each other, the apartments of the
Chairman of the Council and the Chief Representative; they
are oak panelled, with carved window seats and coffered
cypress wood ceilings and are fitted with mahogany
furniture and silk hangings; the other apartments in the
principal floor have raftered ceilings. To the two apartments
just mentioned there are convenient waiting rooms. Close
by, in one of the wings, is the large Committee room of the
Council, and, in the other wing, a corresponding apartment
used as the meeting-room of the chief representative; both
are fitted with oak furniture, and silk hangings over oak
panelled walls. Farther in the one wing is the library, and,
correspondingly, in the other wing, is the handsome,
beautifully furnished meeting room of the magistracy. On
one side of the banqueting hall in the front building is the
reading room of the City Hall library, and on the other side
the ante-room to the magistracy.
The walls of this apartment are adorned with tapestry
depicting scenes in Danish legendary story, and were
executed after coloured drawings, made by Lorens Frölich,
50 years ago, for an Illustrated History of Denmark (Fig.
256-67).
The banqueting hall is a little over 38,29 m. in length, a
good 10,67 m. wide, and 9,20 m. high. It is entered through
six mahogany doors in marble frames (Fig. 249. 271); it has
a parquetry floor of American pine, and is oak panelled to a
certain height, above which the walls appear in white,
waiting for the time when they shall receive artistic
treatment, and contribute to the majesty of the chamber.
Each of the smaller sides has a gallery, and the ceiling is
built of pine, painted and gilded. In the centre of the back
wall there is a platform, with a back hanging, and
surmounted with a canopy, and under the ceiling there is a
frieze-like row of painted shields bearing the arms of
Danish provincial towns, while above the door to the
balcony are placed shields bearing the arms of Iceland,
Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the West Indian island,
possessions of Denmark (Fig. 268-72). The chairs and
sideboards are of carved oak, painted and gilded; on the
latter stand articles of porcelain ware made in the two
Copenhagen Porcelain factories. Red is the predominant
colour throughout the hall, and the cheerful effect is
heightened by bounteous gilding and waving banners.
In its construction the City Hall is essentially national,
as the building materials, such as brick, granite from
Bornholm, and limestone are home products, whilst the
undertaking itself has reacted beneficially on Danish
handicraft; the best materials have in no case been too good,
and, throughout, the mechanical and artistic work has been
executed in the best manner with the noblest spirit.
With pardonable pride inscriptions on the powerful
traverse beams in the Council chamber record the fact that
they have been made from the trunks of fir trees, grown in a
park (Dyrehaven) not far from Copenhagen, and the artist
himself takes pride in pointing out that the nineteen
imposing shafts of the columns in the second story of the
hall, were grown in the flat country of Denmark.
The endeavour of the constructor in the carrying out of
the plan has been to fashion every essential constructive
feature in such manner that its meaning should be apparent
to every beholder, and it has been no insignificant task for
him to devise that such constructive and decorative
essentials should independently assert themselves according
to their importance. In no respect
has there been academic falling back upon conventional and
hacknied classical or renaissance forms. As a whole and in
its details the City Hall of Copenhagen should proclaim its
mission, in its own language.