S_BilledeborgenKøbenhavnsRådhus_1905-2005

The City Hall was meant to house the City Council of the capital and be democratic, even though the form of government of the time was a far cry from the present perseption of democracy. The painter, who more than any other left his brushwork for posterity in the building, was the decorative painter Jens Moller-Jensen, and the story of how he got the assignment is characteristic for the spirit behind Martin Nyrop’s approach to architecture. Jens Moller-Jensen had attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and afterwards studied fresco technique in Italy, so he had something in his portfolio to show the head architect who said: »Travel round Denmark and look at mural paintings!«, which was what Jens Moller-Jensen did after a trial period at the drawing office. On his return a year later, Nyrop had a wall whitewashed, so the young hotspur could prove his talents. Nyrop found the result satisfactory, so Moller-Jensen was hired, and his work can be admired all over inside the big building, on stairways and above doors, featuring Danish botany and sea flora in muted colours and black scrolls. And sculptor Anders Bundgaard supplied roof tops and façade corners with fantastical and realistic figures alike. To Nyrop and his fellow artists the ornamentation was not only intended for daily enjoyment but also signalled a political purpose. Technology is meant to be used in modern construction, but the almost naturalistic patterns in stone, glazing and colour wash were intended to be a new democratic convention, here at the turn of a new century.

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