Halmstad - Town Hall

The Market Square (Stora Torg) of Halmstad is dominated by a fountain, "The Rape of Europa", by Carl Milles (1875-1955). On the south side of the square stands the Town Hall (1938). A notable feature of the interior is the intarsia work by the Halmstad Group, an association (founded 1929) of six painters, most of them from Halmstad, who became known abroad as the Swedish Surrealists. The carillon in the Town Hall plays at 8am, 12 noon, 6pm and 9pm, when the four groups of figures below change places. Beside the Town Hall is a half-timbered building known as the Tre Hjärtan (Three Hearts), once a hospital. Close by is St Nicholas's Church (14th C.), the most notable features of which are the font, the pulpit, the altar and the modern stained glass.