Palais de Justice Marseille is the city’s court house from 1862, built in a dramatic Neoclassical architecture style.
The courthouse, which was constructed from plans by architect Auguste Martin, is centrally located, within Place Montyon square.
Martin has, in fact, several famous buildings in Marseille, including Hôtel de la Préfecture (from 1866), located at Place Félix-Baret.
Neoclassical style Palais de Justice is 57 meters (187 feet) long and 54 meters (177 feet) wide, which were, in fact, the standard measurements for courthouses during the Second French Empire (1852 – 1870).
PHOTO: Palais de Justice facade and the fountain in front of the building, as seen from Cours Pierre Puget. Cours Pierre Puget, in fact, is one of the routes that you can get up to the Notre Dame de la Garde church (located on top of a small hill).
The highlights of the building’s main facade are…
- its monumental, 25-step staircase,
- portico, with six Ionian columns, and
- bas-relief artwork above the entrance by Eugène Guillaume, allegorical to ‘justice‘, with ‘power‘ and ‘crime‘ to the right, and ‘practical wisdom‘ and ‘innocence‘ to the left.
Inside the palatial building, you can find many significant details.
There are also many impressive paintings by Victor Gilbert, including…
- “Charlemagne avec Alcuin, Anségise, Angilbert et Éginhard”, and
- “Napoléon I er avec Cambacérès, Tronchet, Portalis et Bigot”, which portrays Napoleon Bonaparte together with the original co-creators of ‘Code Civil’: Cambaceres, Tronchet, Portalis and Bigot de Preameneu.