Rådhuspladsen - Town hall square, Copenhagen

Rådhuspladsen with the Copenhagen City Hall is located in central Copenhagen. Many political activities and entertainings acts are going on at Rådhuspladsen which makes it an entertaining place to be. At night, Rådhuspladsen is beautiful with the many colourful lights around the square. At this moment, there's much construction because of the expansion of the Copenhagen Metro, but there's still at lot going on and it's only one half of the square that's under construction.

The Town Hall was built between 1892 and 1905 and is based partly on the Italian Renaissance and partly on medieval Danish architecture. The tower is 106m/350ft high and the building is adorned with sculptures and paintings. Above the main entrance is a statue of Bishop Absalon in gilded copper and in the Great Hall stand busts of Martin Nyrop, the architect who designed the building, the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, Hans Christian Andersen and the physicist Niels Bohr.

The Town Hall is home to Jens Olsen’s World Clock or Verdensur and was designed and constructed in 1955. The clock features solar and lunar eclipses, the positions of the stars and a perpetual calendar as well as telling the time. The fastest cog revolves every 10 seconds whilst the slowest will take 25,753 years making it accurate to within half a second every 300 years.

If Monopoly is to be believed, Radhuspladsen is the Mayfair of Copenhagen - the most expensive place on the board. It is a magnificent square. It has fantastic sculpture, like the Dragon Fountain. It has some expensive, and quite beautiful, places to stay, like the Palace Scandic and Bristol hotels. It has the grand City Hall, and close by the Tivoli Gardens and the Hans Christian Andersen statue that looks to it.

While Kongens Nytorv is the physical heart of Copenhagen, this is the political center. It's a magnet for demonstrations and protests. There was an anti-Capitalist demonstration camped out in front of the City Hall the day I visited. Although there was another anti-NATO demonstration outside the parliament on Christiansborg the day after!

"The City Hall Square" is a public square in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark, located in front of the Copenhagen City Hall. Due to its large size, its central location and its affiliation with the city hall, it is a popular venue for a variety of events, celebrations and demonstrations. It is often used as a central datum for measuring distances from Copenhagen.

The City Hall Square is located at the south-western end of the pedestrian street Strøget which connects it to Kongens Nytorv, the other large square of the city centre, passing Gammeltorv/Nytorv and Amagertorv along the way. Opposite Strøget, Vesterbrogade extends into the Vesterbro district and later crosses the border to Frederiksberg. H. C. Andersens Boulevard, copenhagen's most heavily trafficated street, and Vester Voldgade pass the square on each there side of the city hall.

The place is always full of tourists, locals, teenagers, street musicians etc, always colorful always in motion ... Several cafes around to sip some drinks and hangout .. :)

In Town Hall Square is another famous landmark. This is Column and at the top are two Vikings blowing an ancient trumpet called a lur. The lur actually dates from the Bronze Age (ca. 1500 B.C.), while the Vikings lived some 1,000 years ago.

When we were here, there was some construction going on, so it was a little bit of a mess.

The square was finally finished being built in 1905. It is from here that all measurements in Denmark are measured from a stone post that says ”0 km” and all distances to the north, south and west are measured from this point.

Town Hall Square, we found it to be quite a busy place! The square is surrounded by many old buildings worth gazing at, especially the Richs building on the corner of Vestervoldgade and Radhuspladsen. Look up and you will see a Golden Girl in the tower. This golden girl is quite clever, as she comes out of the tower on her bicycle when the weather is fine & clear, and with a Dog and Umbrella if rain expected. If you can see both of her at the same time, it will be an overcast day. A very interesting display created in 1936 by Einar Utzon-Frank.

Located in the square were Hot-Dog food stalls and buskers, street vendors and hordes of pigeons. There were plenty of park benches to sit and watch the activity, that is, if you can find a free one!

Copenhagen City Hall is situated on The City Hall Square in central Copenhagen. The current building, built in 1905, was built in National Romantic style. It is impressive, although rather plain, it does have a statue of Absalon just above the balcony. There is a tall, slim clock tower, which houses an Astronomical Clock. This was designed by Jens Olsen in 1955 and is world-famous
King Frederik IX set the clock in motion on December 15, 1955. The clockwork is so exact that it's accurate to within half a second every 300 years!

Jens Olsen's World Clock is in the Town Hall.
OPEN... Monday to Friday 11am to 2pm and Saturday at noon. years.
ADMISSION.... 10DKK adults, 5DKK childreN

To the top of the tower is 300 steps. There isn't an elevator.
OPEN....Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm, Sat 10am- 1pm.
ADMISSION....Tower 20DKK

Tours of the Town Hall are available in English

Dragon's are everywhere in Town Hall Square. Scary, but I love their designs and fearsome faces!

Lining the balustrade of the Town Hall, are some BIG DRAGONS.
There is a story to these Dragons.

It was in 1889, a sketch was made for the Dragon fountain. In 1904, it was erected with a bronze basin, and located on the edge of the basin were three dragons, all spouting water and rather larger than sketched in the 1889 project. The basin quickly became known as 'the spitoon'. It was 1908, when the fountain received a low outer basing, and then in 1923, the Dragon Fountain was completely finished when a Bull battling with a Dragon was added.

Three smaller Dragons were made and placed on the edge of the basin, and the larger Dragons are placed on the balustrade in front of the Town Hall. Six bronze baskets of fruit placed on every other one of the twelve stone consoles were added.
The entire fountain was moved 25 metres into the square, and the outer granite basin with the bronze baskets was removed.

Photos:
1. City Hall and the Square
2. A cyclist near City Hall
3. More cyclists going past on H C Andersens Boulevard
4. Three more cyclists near City Hall
5. Cyclist with an Illums Bolighus bag

The City Hall Square is a lively place near the main station and at the beginning of the Strøget pedestrian streets.

Lots of cyclists go past here, including the lady in the fifth photo who is on her way home from shopping at Illums Bolighus, a very up-market store for interior design and accessories ("By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark") located at Amagertorv 10 on the Strøget.

The TOwn Hall square (Rådhuspladsen) in Copenhagen is a busy place but doesn't offer much of merchandise during winter season. It was built between 1812-1905 and fits for 50,000 people. It's nice because it's a big square with many nice buildings around. There's also a statue of Danish author H.C Andersen in one of its corners.

City Hall Square is the largest square in Copenhagen.

The foundation stone was laid down by crown prince Frederick on July 1894 (the day of his 25th wedding anniversary). The square was inaugurated in 1905.

You will be impressed by National Romantic style.

On one side of the square is the location of the Tivoli and on the other side of the square the famous pedestrian street Strøget begins.

Town hall Square (Rådhuspladsen) is so centrally located that we passed by many times, it was always busy with people, locals and tourists, many protests took place here too.

Although there are many buildings around it is actually the square in front of Copenhagen’s Town Hall(Radhus) (pic 1). It was built in 1905 with an imposing façade and a 105 meter high tower. You can visit the Town Hall for free and follow the guided tours but you can also go up to the tower (for 20DKK, I think at 10.00, 12.00 and 14.00, there’s no elevator though, 300 steps wait for you…) and have a panoramic view of the city.

Unfortunately the Town Hall was closed to public during our visit due to a design conference, that’s why we saw many people with colorful clothes on the square (pic 5)
The square is the zero point where all Danish distances are counted from (pic 2). You can see several sculptures around (small or big, on the ground or on top of high columns or at the buildings’ facade) like the dragon fountain that shows a bull and a dragon in combat, a H.C.Andersen’s statue, The Lur Blowers, The Weather Girl (at Richs building) etc

The City Hall of Copenhagen (Danish: Københavns Radhus) is located on the square on the edge of Copenhagen's city center and the Vesterbro district, near Tivoli and Central Station. The building was designed by architect Martin Nyrop and was built in the period 1892-1905. Nyrop dropped for the design inspired by the town hall of Siena, Italy. The Town Hall was officially on September 12, 1905 into operation.

The building has an imposing facade in the middle, above the balcony, a golden statue of Absalon, the founder of Copenhagen. On the left is the tower of the building, with its 105.6 meters to the building one of the highest in the city.

The sound of the bells of the city hall tower is known to many Danes because Danish public radio news broadcast sound when playing from 12.00 (until 2003 this was done live, since a recording is used). Also following the town hall bells for many Danes directly on TV in the new year. the composition is made ​​by Thomas Laub.

Before the Town Hall on Town Hall Square was built, was the Copenhagen City Hall on Gammeltorv / Nytorv. In the 19th century this was the building that now the court is located.

Overlooking the Radhusplads is of course the Radhus itself, Copenhagen's latest incarnation of its City Hall which was built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries by the Danish architect Martin Nyrop.

Copenhagen's original city hall on Gammel Torv was consumed in the fire of 1728 and its replacement, built upon the same foundations, also burnt down in the next great fire of 1795. The third city hall was built on Nytorv, sharing its function with the city prison, police station and courts in the somewhat austere building which is now the present-day City Court.

As Copenhagen recovered from the British bombardment of 1807 and the city and country developed both economically and culturally, local consensus decided that the then city hall needed a touch of lightness or even totally replacement to fit the country's new-found confidence. The new city hall was finally commissioned in 1892, following an open competition which led, after a little wrangling, to Nyrops appointment and the agreement of an almost open-ended budget!

Thus the present city hall was built, being completed in 1905, somewhat over budget yet pretty much exactly what the city council had desired as the symbol of the emerging city and the self-perception of its place in modern Europe.

Despite being a working municipal building the Radhus is open to the public on weekdays from 8.30am to 4.30 pm and Saturdays from 10.00 until 1.00 with various guided tours available though visitors are free to wander the public areas at will. The exception is the tower which is only accessible with a guide at 12 noon year round and at 10am and 2pm during the main summer months.

The tower, with its 300 steps, offers a unique panoramic view of the city and is well worth the 20 DKK charge.

The spire of St Nikolaj Kirke seen in the background of City Hall Square was built from a donation given by Carl Jacobsen of the Carlsberg Brewery. The church is no longer used for religious purposes but as an art gallery, concert venue and other cultural events. Also in the square is the statue of Bishop Absalon - founder of Copenhagen.

Dankjewel to maartenw for his invaluable help with spelling and in the making of this tip!! ;-)