086543575
Chapter 3. T h e Parliament.
The Danish Government is composed of the K ing and tlve Parliam ent or Diet. The la t ter is elected by the people and consists of two Ting, the Landsting and the Follceting (The Upper House and the Lower House). The P arliam ent resides at Christiansborg. The main-en trance is in the Rigsdags- gaarden, where a monumental granit-stairw ay leads op to the gateway. This is suppor ted by four caryatid-like male statues by the sculptor A. llundgaard, who besides these, lias made the coats of arms of the districts and towns and the heads alove the w in dows in the fronts, represen tin g members of the Con stitu en t Assembly. Through the main-gateway one enters the hall, where permission is attained to in spect the abode of the Danish P arliam ent with all the mo dern arrangem ents and com modities. I t may not be as splendidly and artistically equipped as the magnificent Parliam ent-buildings of the great countries, bu t w ith its elegant solidity it formes a
home, worthy of the Danish Legislative Assembly. We recommend the illu stra ted pam phlet: Rigsdagen, Christiansborg to be had at the entrance (Kr. 1,00) and only mention the following facts. The P arliam ent has its aim printing office, installed in the building, the only a r rangement of this kind in the world. I t has its own bathing establishment and own restaurant, in which the palm-garden is open to the visitors. I the Common-Hall, where the meetings are held by the Houses together, the end-wall is covered by a great fresco painting by professor Oscar Matthiesen, representing the meeting of both Houses in the old Lower House in Fre- dericiagade on June 5. 1915, where the premier of th a t ti me, Mr. Zable, bands to the then Speaker M. Pedersen- Nyskov the calligraphed copy of the Constitution of 1915, passed the same day and sig ned by the K ing. The Lower House goes through three floors of the
— 15 -
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker