Decoration

Horsens Town Hall

Horsens, Denmark

interior | colour scheme | light installation | total decoration | metal sculpture | lobby, council chamber, wedding hall and corridors

1986

extant

Poul Gernes, Aase Seidler Gernes, Ulrikka Gernes

PG-Z-17

The decoration of Horsens Town Hall was started in 1985. The project included a colour scheme for the lobby, a site-specific sculpture for the council chamber, total decoration of the wedding hall and stencil decoration of all corridors in a total length of 2.5 km.

The metal sculpture for the council chamber was a donation from a local business. Finn Thybo Andersen has described it as eight giant feathers, fluttering over the heads of the city council members, while Aase Seidler Gernes has compared it to a snake plant (sansevieria).

According to Aase Seidler Gernes, the wedding hall was a last minute inclusion in the decoration project. It was already in use, but the population had dubbed it the mortuary because of the dark red-brick walls and grey furniture. The artists had the walls plastered and painted two bouquets and a flower wreath. Poul Gernes and an electrician made a poetic lamp with small christmas decoration lights. The chairs had light blue covers, the floor an almost white wall-to-wall carpet, the table a white damask cloth. Aase Seidler Gernes' description is taken from a letter to Troels Andersen from 1993.

Horsens Municipality moved out of the town hall in late 2022. Investment company AP Pension and property developer M+ Ejendomme have taken over the building which is due to house several public and private organizations. In January 2024 they presented the plan for a thorough modernization which will preserve most of the Gernes decorations.