This is the \"point zero\" for Denmark's maps. The square opens onto Strøget (and then Amalienborg and the port), the old Royal Island of Slotsholmen and the tivoli Gardens and is the true centre of Copenhagen. As if to prove the point, the major daily newspapers are all based here and the neon lights of numerous international companies shine here. Practical rather than gracious, this is nonetheless a focal point for many.
Built between 1892 and 1906 in a pseudo mid-Lombardy Renaissance mid-Nordic gothic style, the Town Hall is instantly recognisable by its high tower. This massive redbrick construction led to a vast soulless square that developed afterwards (despite the fact that the square was based on the conch of the Campo in Sienna!), which attracts crowds for all the wrong reasons. The Town Hall itself has a unique work of its kind - the Astronomical Clock by Jans Olsen (1872-1945), which was completed shortly before his death and which gives sidereal time, solar time across the globe, the trajectory of the planets and all sorts of astronomical data. It is true that Denmark is the birthplace of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), who was well known in Bohemia, and who revolutionised astronomical science, moving it from speculation to true science, founded on calculation and observation.