The Palace of Justice of Brussels or Law Courts of Brussels is the most important court building in Belgium. It is located on the Place Poelaert/Poelaertplein in the Marolles/Marollen district of Brussels. Built between 1866 and 1883 by the celebrated architect Joseph Poelaert in the eclectic style, the building is reputed to be the largest constructed in the 19th century and is a notable landmark of Brussels. The total cost of the construction, land and furnishings was somewhere in the region of 45 million Belgian francs. This site is served by Louise/Louiza metro station, and tram lines 92 and 94. From the lower part of town, it is also possible to take a lift called Ascenseur des Marolles to access it.
History
Inception and construction
The current Palace of Justice is located on the Galgenberg hill, between Brussels' upper and lower town, where in the Middle Ages convicted criminals were hanged. A first courthouse had been erected on the site of a former Jesuit church, on Palace Square, between Rue de l'Empereur/Keizerstraat and Rue d'Or/Guldenstraat. Built between 1818 and 1823 by the architect François Verly, this neoclassical building had quickly deteriorated, and the question of building a new, larger courthouse arose as early as 1837. It was initially planned to rebuild it in the same place, but this project, the cost of which was estimated at 3 million Belgian francs, quickly aborted. The idea of building it in the Leopold Quarter was no more successful. In 1846–1847, another reconstruction project was also buried. In 1860, during the reign of King Leopold I, a Royal decree announced the construction of the new Palace of Justice, and an international architectural contest was organised for its design. After several failed proposals, the then-Minister of Justice Victor Tesch appointed Joseph Poelaert to draw plans of the building in 1861. The first stone was laid on 31 October 1866, and the building was inaugurated on 15 October 1883, four years after Poelaert's death in 1879. As for the old courthouse, it was demolished in 1892. For the Palace of Justice's construction, a section of the Marolles/Marollen neighbourhood was demolished, while most of the park belonging to the House of Merode was also expropriated. The 75 landlords belonging to the nobility and the high bourgeoisie, many of whom lived in their homes, received large indemnities, while the other more modest inhabitants, about a hundred, were also forced to move by the Belgian government, though they were compensated with houses in the Tillens-Roosendaelgarden city in the Quartier du Chat in the Uccle municipality. Poelaert himself resided in the Marolles, only a few hundred metres from the building, on Rue des Minimes/Minimenstraat, in a house adjoining his vast offices and workshops and communicating with them. It is thus unlikely he saw himself as ruining the neighbourhood. Nonetheless, many angry citizens personally blamed Poelaert for the forced relocations, and the expression schieven architect became one of the most serious insults in the dialect of the Marolles. Although the construction took place during the reign of King Leopold II, he showed little interest in the building, and it is not considered part of his extensive architectural programme in Brussels or his legacy as the "Builder-King".
Damage and renovation
At the end of the Second World War, on the eve of the liberation of Brussels, the retreating German forces started a fire in the Palace of Justice in order to destroy it, as well as the legal records it contained. As a result, the cupola collapsed and part of the building was heavily damaged. In 1947, the restoration work was entrusted to the architect-engineer Albert Storrer. By 1948, most of the building was repaired, and the cupola was rebuilt higher than the original, whose somewhat flat shape had been criticised. Renovations on the building have been in progress since 2003. These renovations pertain to the repair and strengthening of the roof structure and the walls, as well as putting a new layer on the gilded cupola. Progress is slow, and in 2013, it was reported that the decade-old scaffolding was so rusted and unsafe that the scaffolding itself was in need of renovation.
Dimensions
Brussels' Palace of Justice was, at the time of its construction, the largest building in the world, and remains today one of the largest courthouses. The edifice is currently, and has a total built ground surface of, bigger than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The high dome weighs 24,000 tonnes. The building has 8 courtyards with a surface of, 27 large court rooms and 245 smaller court rooms and other rooms. Situated on a hill, there is a level difference of 20 meters between the upper and lower town, which results in multiple entrances to the building at different levels. The building includes huge interior statues of Demosthenes and Lycurgus by the sculptor Pierre Armand Cattier, and figures of the Roman jurists Cicero and Ulpian by Antoine-Félix Bouré. The central portico, high, is surmounted by a bust of the ancient Greek TitanessThemis, personification of divine law and order, by Joseph Ducaju. Moreover, the impressive main hall or salle des pas perdus is around including the first floor gallery, and is long and wide. A compass rose with sixteen rays indicates the centre of the room.
Sections
The Palace of Justice is divided into several sections:
There is a well-known story that Adolf Hitler was reportedly fond of the building. Albert Speer, the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany, stated in his book Inside the Third Reich that he had been dispatched to Brussels in 1940 to study the building. Although lacking the dome and being much smaller, the Justice Palace in Lima, Peru; which houses the Supreme Court of Peru, is based upon Brussels' Palace of Justice.
