a blog by Peter Leonard
Three pictures from Stockholm's City Hall (Stadshus) today. This is a 1920's National Romatic building designed to look like a Viking hall, inflected by the Mediterranean idea of an open-air court.
The last shot is a mosaic depicting Mälardrottning, the queen of the Lake Mälar. She is seated on a throne between the West and East, symbolising Sweden's role as peacekeeper and cultural mediator between the Occident and Orient. The West is depicted by, among other buildings, a New York City skyscraper with an American flag, the East by a mosque.
This mosaic was very controversial when unveiled due to its stylized reperesentation: most Swedes were expecting something a little more European and less Byzantine in appearance. On the side walls are representations of famous Swedes such as Carl von Linée and August Strindberg.