Dynamite and Bling

"Contentment is the only real wealth."

Alfred Nobel

This is the Blue Hall, in Stockholm City Hall. It is the venue for the Nobel Prize banquet each year. It is always on 10th December the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

We visited the city hall on the last day of our visit to Stockholm 2 weeks ago. You have to take a guided tour as it is used by politicians and civil servants so they obviously don't want just anyone wondering around. It is best to check beforehand whether the hall will be open to tourists as it is frequently hired by various groups.

I rather enjoyed our visit. There was plenty of 'bling'.

Courtesy of the Golden Hall.

I was taken with this image for obvious reasons.

We had previously visited the Nobel Museum which is situated in Gamla Stan, a lovely old area of Stockholm. One of the staff on the front desk was not only very knowledgeble about the city hall and the Nobel Prize, but also very interesting. She chatted to us for sometime sparking our curiosity.

Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and became one of the richest men of his time. In his will he bequethed most of his estate to establishing an annual prize, the Nobel Prize. He died in 1896 and the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. The will was controversial at the time. It was unusual to leave such large amounts of money to scientific and charitable causes. It was also thought that the prize should be restricted to Swedes.

Alfred Nobel specified the institutions who should nominate the Nobel laureates. Since 1901 prizes have been awarded for; physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. Since 1969 a prize for economics has been awarded in Alfred Nobels memory. Each prize consists of a medal, a personal diploma and a cash sum.

The Nobel peace prize is awarded in Norway in accordance to Alfred Nobels wishes.