Swedish Parliament House
The Parliament House on Helgeandsholmen was built in the Neo-Baroque style with a mighty colonnaded façade facing Norrbro. Together with the former Bank of Sweden building behind it, it forms a closed complex. It is one of Stockholm’s clearest examples of how turn-of-the-century historicism gave the state a monumental form.
After the parliamentary reform of 1866 the Riksdag had two chambers, and the old premises were no longer adequate. After long debates about site and style, Aron Johansson designed a building in Neo-Baroque, a style meant to recall the grandeur of Sweden’s age as a great power and the Royal Palace opposite. The building was inaugurated in 1905.
Originally the Riksdag had its chambers in the eastern, semicircular part. When the unicameral parliament was introduced in 1971, the old Bank of Sweden building was converted, with a new chamber, and the Riksdag moved there only in 1983, after some years in the Kulturhuset on Sergels torg. The Parliament House shows the ideal of historicism: a style chosen for its message, executed with the full weight of materials and craftsmanship.