The Old City Hall at Gammeltorv Aalborg was built in 1762 and served as city hall until 1912. Today it is only used for ceremonial and representative purposes. The city hall was built by master builder Daniel Popp, who had moved to Aalborg from Copenhagen, and was modelled on Johan Conrad Ernst's City Hall there, which was later completely destroyed in the Copenhagen Fire of 1795. This was a specific requirement from Iver Holck, the county governor at Aalborghus. Designed in the Late Baroque style, the building consists of two storeys and a cellar under a black-glazed tile roof. The yellow-washed facade is decorated with white pilasters and a frontispiece featuring the Danish coat of arms and a bust of King Frederick V. His motto, Prudentia et Constantia, is also seen above the main entrance. The well-preserved door is a local example of the Rococo style. The building was listed by the Danish Heritage Agency in 1918.
References:The Beckov castle stands on a steep 50 m tall rock in the village Beckov. The dominance of the rock and impression of invincibility it gaves, challenged our ancestors to make use of these assets. The result is a remarkable harmony between the natural setting and architecture.
The castle first mentioned in 1200 was originally owned by the King and later, at the end of the 13th century it fell in hands of Matúš Èák. Its owners alternated - at the end of the 14th century the family of Stibor of Stiborice bought it.
The next owners, the Bánffys who adapted the Gothic castle to the Renaissance residence, improved its fortifications preventing the Turks from conquering it at the end of the 16th century. When Bánffys died out, the castle was owned by several noble families. It fell in decay after fire in 1729.
The history of the castle is the subject of different legends. One of them narrates the origin of the name of castle derived from that of jester Becko for whom the Duke Stibor had the castle built.
Another legend has it that the lord of the castle had his servant thrown down from the rock because he protected his child from the lords favourite dog. Before his death, the servant pronounced a curse saying that they would meet in a year and days time, and indeed precisely after that time the lord was bitten by a snake and fell down to the same abyss.
The well-conserved ruins of the castle, now the National Cultural Monument, are frequently visited by tourists, above all in July when the castle festival takes place. The former Ambro curia situated below the castle now shelters the exhibition of the local history.