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Raadhus Review

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Rådhus

Address: Rådhus Pl., Downtown, Copenhagen | Map It
Phone: 33/66-25-82

City Hall

Category: Government Buildings
Location: Downtown

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Fodor's Review:

Completed in 1905, the mock-Renaissance building dominates Rådhus Pladsen (City Hall Square), the hub of Copenhagen's commercial district. Architect Martin Nyrop's creation was popular from the start, perhaps because he envisioned that it should give "gaiety to everyday life and spontaneous pleasure to all…" A statue of Copenhagen's 12th-century founder, Bishop Absalon, sits atop the main entrance.

Besides being an important ceremonial meeting place for Danish VIPs, the intricately decorated Rådhus contains the first World Clock. The multidial, superaccurate astronomical timepiece has a 570,000-year calendar and took inventor Jens Olsen 27 years to complete before it was put into action in 1955. If you're feeling energetic, take a guided tour up the 350-foot bell tower for the panoramic, but not particularly inspiring, view.

The modern glass-and-gray-steel bus terminal flanking the square's northwest side has French granite floors, pear-tree-wood shelving, and underground marble bathrooms. The $2.8 million creation proved so architecturally contentious—more for its placement than for its design—that there was serious discussion of moving it.

Look up to see one of the city's most charming bronze sculptures, created by the Danish artist E. Utzon Frank in 1936. Diagonally across Rådhus Pladsen, atop a corner office building, are a neon thermometer and a gilded barometer. On sunny days there's a golden sculpture of a girl on a bicycle; come rain, a girl with an umbrella appears.

Cost: Tower tours DKr 20
Open: Rådhus weekdays 8-5. Tours Oct.-May, Mon.-Sat. at noon; June-Sept., weekdays at 10, noon, and 2, Sat. at noon

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