Rådhusplassen ("The City Hall Square") is a

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

located between

Oslo City Hall Oslo City Hall ( no, Oslo rådhus) is a municipal building in Oslo, the capital of Norway. It houses the city council, the city's administration and various other municipal organisations. The building as it stands today was constructed between ...

and the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the Nor ...

Vika Vika may refer to: __NOTOC__ Persons * often a short form of Victoria (and variants) in Eastern Europe * Vika Lusibaea (born 1964), Solomon Islands politician * Hilda Vīka (1897–1963), Latvian artist and writer * Ludo Vika (born 1955), Dominica ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Previously used as a road and part of

European route E18 European route E18 runs from Craigavon in Northern Ireland to Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is about in length. Although the designation implies the possibility of a through jour ...

, it has since 1994 served as a recreational area. North of the square stands the city hall, to the south the fjord, to the east

Akershus Fortress Akershus Fortress ( no, Akershus Festning, ) or Akershus Castle ( no, Akershus slott ) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress h ...

and to the east the former Western Railway Station.

History

Up until the 1920s, the area of

Pipervika Pipervika is a neighborhood in the borough Sentrum in Oslo, Norway. It is located between the Oslofjord, Akershus Fortress and The City Hall Square. Today the term Pipervika is primarily used for the bay between the fortress and Aker Brygge. Thi ...

was dominated by common housing, and was seen by the contemporary elite as an area with low housing standard, poor hygiene and lack of moral standards. Plans for the new city hall started in 1915, and in 1921 the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

passed legislation allowing

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of parts of Pipervika to build a city hall and a square. An architectural competition announced in 1916 was won by the architects

Arnstein Arneberg Arnstein Rynning Arneberg (6 July 1882 – 9 June 1961) was a Norwegian architect. He was active professionally for 50 years and is often considered the leading architect in Norway of his time. Personal life Arnstein Rynning Arneberg was b ...

and Magnus Poulsson. Their plan involved paving the square with

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

, and making it an

urban open space In land-use planning, urban green space is open space reserve, open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces", including plant life, water features -also referred to as blue spaces- and other kinds of natural environment. Most urb ...

, instead of a park. Tram tracks at Rådhusplassen

Construction of the city hall, given the street address Rådhusplassen 1, started in 1931, and the square was named in 1934. In 1938, a competition for decoration of the area was launched, and won by

Emil Lie Emil Lie (29 July 1897 – 3 August 1976) was a Norwegian sculptor. Lie was born in Berchtesgaden to novelist Bernt Lie and Hedvig Mariboe Aubert. He was married three times, and among his fathers-in-law were ship owner Lars Christensen and ...

and Per Hurum. They had made a design of classic sculptures and decorations, that would contrast with the modernistic building. The work started in 1941, but was not completed until 1960.

Highway and tunnel

Since 10 October 1875, the square had been part of the

Vestbanen Line Vestbanen, literally meaning "the West Line", may refer to: * Copenhagen–Fredericia/Taulov Line, a mainline railway in Denmark * Oslo West Station, a former railway station in Oslo, Norway * Vestbanen (company), a railway company and a local rail ...

of the

Oslo Tramway The Oslo tram network ( no, Trikken i Oslo, short from ', 'electric') is the tram system in Oslo, Norway. It consists of six lines with 99 stops and has a daily ridership of 132,000. It is operated by , a subsidiary of the municipally-owned who ...

. It remained until 1961. Also the

Oslo Port Line The Oslo Port Line ( no, Havnebanen i Oslo) is an abandoned Norwegian railway that went between the two main railway stations in Oslo, Oslo Østbanestasjon and Oslo Vestbanestasjon. The line was long, single track, but not electrified. The li ...

opened on 13 November 1907. The square ended up as a six-lane highway that functioned as the main east–west road through Oslo, and was part of

European Route E18 European route E18 runs from Craigavon in Northern Ireland to Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is about in length. Although the designation implies the possibility of a through jour ...

. With the opening of the

Oslo Tunnel The Oslo Tunnel ( no, Oslotunnelen) is a , Double-track railway, double-track, Rail transport, railway tunnel which runs between Olav Kyrres plass and Oslo Central Station (Oslo S) in Oslo, Norway. The tunnel constitutes the easternmost sec ...

that connected

Oslo Central Station Oslo Central Station ( no, Oslo sentralstasjon, abbreviated ) is the main railway station in Oslo, and the largest railway station within the entire Norwegian railway system. It connects with Jernbanetorget station. It's the terminus of Dramme ...

to the

Drammen Line The Drammen Line ( no, Drammenbanen) is a railway line between Oslo and Drammen, Norway, which was opened on 7 October 1872. It serves all trains west of Oslo Central Station and is owned by Bane NOR. The line opened as a narrow gauge railway, ...

, the Port Line became redundant, and was removed in 1983. The idea to put the highway in a tunnel under the square was launched in the 1950s, and during the 1980s it was decided to build the

Festning Tunnel The Festning Tunnel ( no, Festningstunnelen) is a motorway tunnel on European Route E18 in the city center of Oslo, Norway. The tunnel has two tubes, with three lanes in each. It runs from Bjørvika, under Akershus Fortress, The City Hall Square ...

. The city council voted on 5 April 1989 to make the square car-free. The car tunnel opened in 1990, but still 24,000 cars remained each day on the four-lane road. During the summer of 1994, the square was made a car-free zone, and on 21 August 1995, the

Vika Line The Vika Line ( no, Vikatrikken) is a light rail section of the Oslo Tramway in Oslo, Norway. It runs between Wessels plass, through the neighborhood of Vika and Aker Brygge, before arriving at Solli. The section is served by SL79 trams on lin ...

opened. At Rådhusplassen is a tram stop with the name Rådhusplassen. It is served by tram line 12. Also at Rådhusplassen is the ferry quay used by

Oslo Fergene Oslo Fergene is a passenger ferry operator in Oslo, Norway. The company has contracts with Ruter to operate ferries from Oslo City Hall to the islands of Hovedøya, Bleikøya, Gressholmen, Lindøya, Nakholmen and Langøyene Langøyene is an isl ...

for route 91 to

Bygdøy Bygdøy or Bygdø is a peninsula situated on the western side of Oslo, Norway. Administratively, Bygdøy belongs to the borough of Frogner; historically Bygdøy was part of Aker Municipality and became part of Oslo in 1948. Bygdøy is a popular ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radhusplassen Squares in Oslo Odonyms referring to a building Fjord City