Stockholms stadshus, Stockholm

Stockholm City Hall is the seat of Stockholm’s municipal government, and this monumental building also contains ceremonial rooms and hosts the Nobel Prize banquet. Ragnar Östberg designed it, combining Renaissance, Baroque and National Romantic influences into an unusually varied composition. Its dark brickwork gives the façades a powerful, textured character, while turrets, balconies, wooden masts and statues add playful detail.

Construction lasted from 1911 to 1923 and consumed nearly eight million bricks. The building opened on 23 June 1923, a date chosen to mark what was believed to be the 400th anniversary of Gustav Vasa’s arrival in Stockholm; the anniversary calculation was later found to be incorrect. Look at the monumental tower beside the shore: it rises 106 metres and carries the Three Crowns, Sweden’s national symbol.

Its base includes a gilded memorial to Birger Jarl, a Swedish statesman from the 13th century. Inside, the Blue Hall has no blue decoration; its name survived from an earlier design. The Golden Hall takes its name from mosaics made with more than 18 million tiles, while the organ in the Blue Hall contains 10,270 pipes.