Aarhus City Hall (Danish : Aarhus Rådhus) is the city hall of Aarhus, Denmark. The decision to build a new city hall was taken during a city hall meeting in 1937. The new building was inaugurated 2 June 1941, designed by architects Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller. On the first proposal, the plans did not include a tower but due to massive public pressure it was later added to the drawings along with the idea to clad the structure in marble. Hans Wegner was in charge of the furnishing - which is uniquely designed to fit the building -, and parts of the interior design.
The city hall has a total area of 19,380 m2 including the basement. The tower is 60 m tall and the tower clock face has a diameter of 7 m. The building is made of concrete plated with 6,000 m2 of grey marble from Porsgrunn in Norway. On the outside, copper is used for many architectural details, signified by the characteristic green verdigris. The interior is more luscious in its expression with oaken parquet floors, ceramic tile floors in various patterns, specially designed wooden furniture, glass walls, wooden walls and large wall paintings and decorations. Inside, brass and bronze is used for metal architectural details.
The price for the building was 9.5 mio. DKK, including the cost of the land area and inventory which in itself comprised 1.5 mio. DKK. As one of just a few Danish city halls, it was marked for preservation in March 1994 because of its unique architecture and design. In January 2006, the city hall was included in the Danish Culture Canon under architecture.
The city hall features as the main location of the short film Nada - Act II by Slovenian artist Jasmina Cibic.
Aarhus has officially had two former city halls. The first was erected in the middle of the 15th century and was situated in front of the tower of the Aarhus Cathedral. It was demolished in 1859.
The second city hall was erected during 1856 and 1857, immediately northeast of the Cathedral. Officially it was city hall, courthouse and penitentiary. From 1856 to 1906, the county councils also held their meetings in the building and the Aarhus art museum, that now has evolved to become the ARoS art museum, started out in the attic in 1859. [1] When the building was not needed as a city hall any longer due to the erection of the present city hall, the building was in use as a police station between 1941 and 1984. Today the building houses Kvindemuseet, a museum for women's culture and history in Denmark.
The Aarhus City Hall is situated in Rådhusparken (The City Hall Park). The park is rather small, but marks the main entrance to the city for travellers arriving at the Central Station close by and hosts various events throughout the year. The City Hall Park connects with the park area in front of The Concert Hall of Aarhus (Danish : Musikhuset) and leads to the central square of Rådhuspladsen (The City Hall Square).
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Aarhus is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately 187 kilometres (116 mi) northwest of Copenhagen.
Aarhus Cathedral is a cathedral in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the longest and tallest church in the country, at 93 m (305 ft) in length and 96 m (315 ft) in height.
Aarhus C is a postal district in the city of Aarhus, Denmark, consisting of the Inner city, Vesterbro, University of Aarhus, Frederiksbjerg, Langenæs and Aarhus Ø, with postal code 8000. The district is commonly defined as the area enclosed by the ring road of Ring 1, and in the west by the Aarhus Harbour and shoreline.
Copenhagen City Hall is the headquarters of the Copenhagen City Council as well as the Lord mayor of the Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. The building is situated on City Hall Square in central Copenhagen.
ARoS is an art museum in Aarhus, Denmark. The museum was established in 1859 and is the oldest public art museum in Denmark outside Copenhagen. On 7 April 2004, ARoS opened with exhibitions in a brand new modern building, 10 stories tall with a total floor area of 20,700 m² and designed by Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen. Today, ARoS is one of the largest art museums in Northern Europe with a total of 624.000 visitors in 2023.
Schmidt Hammer Lassen (SHL) is an international architectural firm founded by a group of Danish architects in 1986 in Aarhus, Denmark. It currently has three offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark, as well as Shanghai, China. In 2018, Schmidt Hammer Lassen became part of global architecture and design firm Perkins and Will.
Midtbyen, also known as Aarhus Center or City, is the inner part of Aarhus. Midtbyen is part of district Aarhus C, mainly with postal code 8000, together with Vesterbro, Nørre Stenbro Trøjborg and Frederiksbjerg and has a population of around 90000
The architecture of Denmark has its origins in the Viking Age, revealed by archaeological finds. It was established in the Middle Ages when first Romanesque, then Gothic churches and cathedrals, were built throughout the country. During this period, brick became the construction material of choice for churches, fortifications and castles, as the country had little access to stone.
Christ Church is a Church of Denmark parish church situated on Enghave Plads in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It was designed by Valdemar Koch, who also built several other churches in Copenhagen around that time. Completed in 1900, it was the first new church to be opened in the fast-growing neighbourhood to relieve the pressure on St. Mathew's. Its style is inspired by Italian Romanesque church architecture.
Musikhuset Aarhus is a large concert hall complex in Aarhus, Denmark. Located in the city centre, Musikhuset is Aarhus' main venue for music and with seating for more than 3,600 people in total, it is the largest concert hall in Scandinavia. Musikhuset Aarhus was designed by Kjær & Richter and built in 1979-1982, commissioned by Aarhus Municipality.
Vennelystparken is the oldest park in the city of Aarhus, constructed in the years 1824 to 1830 between the streets Vennelyst Boulevard and Nørrebrogade. Through the 19th century up to the Second World War the park was a social focal point in Aarhus hosting revues, circusses, plays and concerts in changing venues. The park is now part of the Aarhus University campus in Midtbyen. The park no longer has any venues but is frequently used for open-air concerts and protests and functions as the local park of the neighborhood Øgadekvarteret.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Aarhus, a city in central Denmark.
Åby Church is a church located in Åby Parish in Aarhus, Denmark. The church is situated in the neighbourhood Åbyhøj, west of Midtbyen. The church is today a parish church in the Church of Denmark, serving a parish population of 10.925 (2015). The Åby Church pastorate is shared with the Åbyhøj Church to the north.
Aarhus Old City Hall is the former city hall of Aarhus, Denmark, and a listed building. The city hall was built in 1857 and was listed in the Danish national registry of protected buildings and places by the Danish Heritage Agency on 18 March 1996. It is the second, and oldest preserved, city hall of Aarhus.
Dokk1 or Dokken is a government building, public library and culture center in Aarhus, Denmark. It is situated on Hack Kampmanns Plads in the city center by the waterfront next to the Custom House. Dokk1 is part of the much larger development project Urban Mediaspace Aarhus, jointly financed by Aarhus Municipality and Realdania for 2.1 billion DKK. It is designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and Kristine Jensen, with construction managed by NCC AB. Construction broke ground 8 June 2011 and the building was inaugurated four years later on 20 June 2015.
The Danish National Exhibition of 1909 or The National Exhibition in Aarhus 1909 was an industry, crafts and culture exhibition held in Aarhus, Denmark in 1909 from 18 May to 3 October. The exhibition displayed some 1850 individual works by architects, artists, craftsmen and businesses and attracted 650.000 visitors. The project was a large undertaking for the city with long-lasting effects on cultural institutions and short-term economic problems. The exhibition fairgrounds was named The white City based on the architectural expression chosen by the leading architect Anton Rosen.
Tilst Church is a church in Aarhus, Denmark, situated in the suburb Tilst 8 kilometers north-west of Aarhus city center. Tilst Church is from the 1100s, erected as a typical Danish Romanesque village church. Later additions in the 15th century added a Gothic tower and porch. Tilst Church is the only church in Tilst Parish but it is a part of the Tilst-Kasted pastorate which includes Tilst and Kasted Churches. There were 5.163 members of the Church of Denmark living in Tilst Parish on 1 January 2016.
The Concert Hall Park is a public park in central Aarhus, Denmark. The park is laid out in front of the Aarhus Concert Hall main entrances in the Indre By neighborhood of the inner city. It is bordered by the street Frederiks Allé to the east, Thomas Jensen's Allé to the south and Vester Allé to the north, behind the historic buildings of the former Vester Allés Barracks. The park is named after the Aarhus Concert Hall which is situated prominently immediately west of the park. The Concert Hall Park forms a center-point between some of the most prominent buildings in the city, the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Vester Allé Barracks, the concert halls, and Aarhus City Hall in view behind the City Hall Park across Frederiks Allé. The Concert Hall Park was designed by the landscape architect Sven Hansen as a parterre garden, and it was established in the 1980s.
The architecture of Aarhus comprises numerous architectural styles and works from the Middle Ages to present-day. Aarhus has a well-preserved medieval city center with the oldest dwellings dating back to the mid-1500s and some ecclesiastical structures such as St. Clemen's Cathedral and numerous smaller churches that can be traced back to the 1100s. The industrialization of the 19th and 20th centuries left distinctive industrial structures, important National romantic works and some of the best examples of Functionalist architecture in the country. The history of the city as a Viking fort is evidenced in the street layout of the Latin Quarter, the wider Indre By neighborhood testifies to its later role as a Market town and center of commerce while the Frederiksbjerg, Trøjborg and Marselisborg districts showcase the first cohesive urban planning efforts of the early 20th century.
Scandinavian Center is a convention center in Aarhus, Denmark situated in the Midtbyen neighborhood at the city square of Margrethepladsen. Scandinavian Center was finished in 1995 by designs of the architect practice Friis & Moltke in a modern style. Today, the building is privately owned and used for various activities such a conventions, hotel and businesses. The building is a well-known landmark in central Aarhus, situated in Eckersbergsgade.
Media related to Aarhus City Hall at Wikimedia Commons