Rådhuset (City Hall)

Rådhuset (aka City Hall) is pretty impressive! Is it any wonder that this is where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony takes place?

Every hour between 7am and midnight, the clock strikes the hour, then the bells play a lovely tune for over a minute!

The courtyard center statue is of two intertwined swans.

The outside walls facing the square are filled with reliefs by Dagfin Werenskiold, and depict motifs from Norse mythology in the Poetic Edda. Each carved wood fresco has a plaque explaining the scene (in Norwegian and English). 

Unfortunately, the very last photo is blurred 🙄

But it's one that I also got the description for.

So...

Frigg (love) is one of Odin's wives and the mother of Balder (lord, prince), the god of innocence and piety. Balder is haunted by evil dreams, and Odin rides to Nivlheim (the under world, kingdom of the dead), where he awakens a dead mystic. Through her he gets to know that Balder is going to die, the halls of Nivlheim are adorned and await him. As a result Frigg makes all elements swear on oath that they will not hurt Balder: fire and water, iron and iron-ore, rocks, earth, trees, animals and plants - except the mistletoe, "because she felt it was too young".

I wish I had thought to photograph all of the plaques!