Copenhagen City Hall

Copenhagen City Hall, Kobenhavns Radhus, dominates the City Hall Square, Radhuspladsen, the main square of the city at the end of Stroget and across the road from Tivoli. It is the seat of the city council and the Lord Mayor, and it is a working building, but much of it is open to visitors, either free on your own or on short paid guided tours. The building was designed by the architect Martin Nyrop and completed in 1905, in a style inspired by the town hall of Siena and by Danish medieval architecture, with red brick, white stone trim, a crenellated roofline and a gilded statue of Bishop Absalon, the founder of Copenhagen, above the main entrance. Its slender clock tower, more than a hundred metres tall, is a landmark from almost anywhere in the old town. Inside, the great hall is a soaring, galleried space used for receptions and events, decorated with Danish symbols and lit from above, and the corridors and staircases are full of craftsmanship, carvings and mosaics. Just inside the entrance is one of the most remarkable objects in Copenhagen, Jens Olsen's World Clock, an astronomical clock of extraordinary complexity started by King Frederik IX on 15 December 1955. It shows local and world time, sunrise and sunset, the positions of the planets, the calendar and the movement of the stars, and it includes the slowest-turning gear in the world. The exhibition about the clock is free and open on weekdays from 9:00 to 16:00 and on Saturday mornings. Guided tours of the building run on weekdays at 13:00 and on Saturdays at 10:00 and cover the clock, the halls and the library, and separate tower tours take you up about 300 steps to the top of the tower, with a panoramic view over Tivoli, the old city, the harbour and the Oresund. Tours are short, about half an hour for the tower, and group sizes are limited, so book ahead. Because City Hall is a working building, tours and access can be cancelled at short notice for official events, including the civil weddings held in the building.

City Hall sits at the centre of public life in Copenhagen. The square in front of it is the city's gathering place for celebrations, demonstrations and New Year's Eve, and in December it hosts a Christmas market around a huge tree; in 2026 the market on the square runs from 11 to 20 December. On the side of City Hall facing H.C. Andersens Boulevard, a bronze statue of Hans Christian Andersen sits gazing towards Tivoli, and it is one of the most photographed statues in the city. Look up, too, at the Lur Blowers column on the square, two Bronze Age horn players on top of a tall pillar, a reminder of the lurs you can see in the National Museum.

How to visit well: walk in on a weekday to see the great hall and the World Clock, which needs only twenty minutes, and book a tower tour in advance if you want the view, as places are limited and tours do not run every day. The climb is steep in places, so it is not suitable for anyone with mobility problems. In summer, the tower ticket includes access to the City Hall Garden, a peaceful courtyard garden behind the building. Be prepared for changes if there is an official event.

The location could not be more central. Tivoli Gardens is across the street, the start of Stroget, the long pedestrian shopping street, is at the corner of the square, and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and the National Museum are each a few minutes' walk away. Central Station is five minutes on foot. A visit to City Hall makes a good first stop on a walking tour of the old city, or a short break between shopping and an evening in Tivoli.