Rådhusplassen ("The City Hall Square") is a

square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

located between

Oslo City Hall Oslo City Hall () 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 1931 and 1950, wi ...

and the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; ) is an inlet in southeastern Norway. The fjord begins at the small village of Bonn in Frogn, Frogn Municipality and stretching northwards to the city of Oslo, and then curving to the east and then south again. It then flows s ...

Vika Vika may refer to: __NOTOC__ Persons * Short form of Victoria (and variants) in Eastern Europe * Vika Bull, one of an Australian vocal duo of sisters, Vika and Linda * Vika Jigulina (born 1986), Romanian musician * Vika Lusibaea (born 1964), Solo ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Previously used as a road and part of

European route E18 European route E18 runs between Craigavon, County Armagh, Craigavon in Northern Ireland and Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is about in length. Although the designation implies the ...

, 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 (, ) or Akershus Castle ( ) 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 has been the namesake and centre of the ...

and to the east the former Western Railway Station.

History

Up until the 1920s, the area of Pipervika 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 ( ; ) 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 based on party-list proportional represe ...

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 contrasts with p ...

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 (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

, and making it an

urban open space In land-use planning, urban green spaces are open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces." These include plant life, water features also known as blue spaces and other kinds of natural environments. Most urban open spaces a ...

, instead of a park. 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 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 of the

Oslo Tramway The Oslo tram network (, 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 maintain the trac ...

. It remained until 1961. Also the Oslo Port Line 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 between Craigavon, County Armagh, Craigavon in Northern Ireland and Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is about in length. Although the designation implies the ...

. With the opening of the

Oslo Tunnel The Oslo Tunnel () is a , double-track, railway tunnel which runs between Olav Kyrres plass and Oslo Central Station (Oslo S) in Oslo, Norway. The tunnel constitutes the easternmost section of the Drammen Line and runs below the central ...

that connected

Oslo Central Station Oslo Central Station (, abbreviated ) is the main railway station in Oslo, and the largest railway station within the entire Norwegian railway system. It connects with Jernbanetorget station, which is served by trams and the Oslo Metro. It's ...

to the

Drammen Line The Drammen Line () 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, and rebuilt to s ...

, 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 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 () 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 line 12. The line is ...

opened. At Rådhusplassen is a tram stop with the name

Rådhusplassen Rådhusplassen ("The City Hall Square") is a Town square, square located between Oslo City Hall and the Oslofjord in Vika, Oslo, Vika, Oslo, Norway. Previously used as a road and part of European route E18, it has since 1994 served as a recreation ...

. 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 ...

for route 91 to

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

References

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