page_title: Odense
section_title: City Hall
hierarchical_section_title: Odense / Landmarks / City Hall
caption_attribution_description: Odense, Denmark
context_page_description: Odense is the third-largest city in Denmark.
  It has a population of 180,302, and is the main city of the island of Funen. By road, Odense is located 45 kilometres north of Svendborg, 144 kilometres to the south of Aarhus and 167 kilometres to the southwest of Copenhagen. The city is the seat of Odense Municipality and was the seat of Odense County until 1970, and Funen County from 1970 until 1 January 2007, when Funen County became part of the Region of Southern Denmark. Odense has close associations with Hans Christian Andersen who is remembered above all for his fairy tales. He was born in the city in 1805 and spent his childhood years there.
  There has been human settlement in the Odense area for over 4,000 years, although the name was not mentioned in writing until 988, and by 1070, it had already grown into a thriving city. Canute IV of Denmark, generally considered to be the last Viking king, was murdered by unruly peasants in Odense's St Alban's Priory on 10 July 1086. Although the city was burned in 1249 following a royal rivalry, it quickly recovered and flourished as a centre of commerce in the Middle Ages.
context_section_description: Odense's City Hall (Odense Rådhus), with its medieval Italian look, was designed by Johan Daniel Herholdt and Carl Lendorf in the Historicist style. Completed in 1883, it combines red masonry with sandstone decorations, stepped gables and a saw-tooth course. It stands on the site of a smaller building from 1480. In 1937 Bent Helveg-Møller won the competition for the building's enlargement. The tower over the main entrance was torn down in 1942 but was not rebuilt. As work was delayed during the war, the extension was not completed until 1955. In conjunction with Hans Christian Andersen's 200th anniversary in 2005, comprehensive renovation work was completed on the building's interiors, including the entrance halls, meeting rooms, banqueting hall and council chamber.
caption: City Hall
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