Visit to the City Hall

Its been over 4 months since I arrived at the Capital of Scandinavia but have never got a chance to see the World famous City Hall at Stadshuset until yesterday. I got an invite from the Stockholm Business Region Development team for a Networking session. I was not going to miss this. This was probably the best place to shake hands.

Overseeing the lake Mälaren, the view from the courtyard of the City Hall was breathtaking.

I was awestruck by the green lawns, the grill work emanating from the Renaissance period and the magnificent fountains.

All in all, 8 million red bricks, all hand made were used to build this giant structure and it took about 10 years for completion (largely due to budget constraints). The description outside the structure says building completion happened in 1923.

My natural instincts were telling me to go back home load my Canon 400D and get on with the work that I do best. Unfortunately, I had to behave myself. I was a business delegate here in my Gucci suit.

The spiralling tower, all in all 76 meters tall with the 3 Golden Crowns symbolise Sweden. I could not climb up there as there was some restriction on account of a dinner party to be held later that day.

The flames out in the courtyard were not lit. They say its lit only on the 10th of December. for a moment, I thought I was entering a Roman castle.

I entered the much-talked about Blue Hall, better known for the Nobel Prize Banquet that is held every year on the 10th of December. My first impression of the Hall was that it was rather small.

On the D-day, 1100 dignitaries including the King and his family, the Prime Minister and his Council of Minsters and the Nobel laureates all gather in this hall. I was told that on an average each delegate has only 60 cms between 2 people to squeeze himself. All the more important for him to have good table manners.

I got to see the Menu card of the much-talked about Nobel Prize Banquent Dinner. Well, I got tired of going through it. A restaurant attached to the City Hall serves that dinner for about 2000 SEK. My monthly ration costs me slightly less than that.

As I entered the hall, an elaborate arrangement was being made for a banquet to be held later in the evening. I also got to climb the stairs where the King calls upon the Nobel Laureate and awards the Medallion and the Million bucks. There is a Star sign etched on one of the walls directly overseeing the entrance of the steps. The legend says the Queen is supposed to look up to the Star as she climbs down the stairs. To ensure that she does not fall down or trip on her own elaborate gown, the steps were spaced sufficiently wide to accommodate her entire toe. That was crazy.

The trivia associated with this Blue Hall is that there is nothing 'Blue' about it. It was supposed to be a open-air hall, with the blue sky top. It never happened. then somebody mooted we will paint the walls blue. That never happened. Finally they said lets name it Blue Hall in remembrance of the original theme.

From here, I climbed up to the Golden Hall. The name was not deceiving. It was gold everywhere. Must be the "richest" hall in the world.

Some 18 million mosaic pieces, imported from Italy each one having a 23.14 carat gold layer was used to create this masterpiece. I was wondering how did they manage to fund the construction of such a lavish hall? I later got to know that the budget sanctioned was for 6 Million Kroner before the start of the project. They completed the project for 13 Million Kroner. The Stockholmers were generous in the early 1920s and contributed individually for the completion of the masterpiece. Now they have some of the highest taxes in the world.

I can go on and on about this hall, but better facts are available in the websites out there, do I suggest readers to fetch them. Only noteworthy mention was a representation of India in this hall represented by an Elephant and a howdah.

Also located here is the Stockholm's City Hall Council Chamber, with 101 seats. There is an even representation of both the sexes. The extra seat(100+1) is to ensure avoiding the 50-50 voting scenario. The ceiling here was spectacular.

The city hall is more famous these days with the Stockholmers due to number of Civil Marriages that take place in the French hall here. The wannabies come here on the Saturdays between 2 pm and 4 pm and get married in 5 minutes.