Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
▲▲▲City Hall (Rådhuset)
—In 1931, Oslo tore down a slum and began
constructing its richly decorated City Hall. It was finally finished—after a
WWII delay—in 1950 to celebrate the city's 900th birthday. Norway's lead-
ing artists all contributed to the building, an avant-garde thrill in its day. City
halls, rather than churches, are the dominant buildings in Scandinavian cap-
itals. The prominence of this building on the harborfront makes sense in this
most humanistic, yet least churchgoing, northern end of the Continent. Up
here, people pay high taxes, have high expectations, and are generally satis-
fied with what their governments do with their money.
CostandHours:
Free,daily9:00-18:00,free50-minuteguidedtoursdaily
at 10:00, 12:00, and 14:00 in summer, tours run Wed only in winter, free WC,
enter on Karl Johans Gate side, tel. 23 46 12 00.
