The Palais de justice historique de Lyon is a building located Quai Romain Rolland, on the right bank of the

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name d ...

, in the

5th arrondissement of Lyon The 5th arrondissement of Lyon is one of the nine arrondissements of the City of Lyon. History The 5th arrondissement was created on 24 March 1852 (date of creation of the first five arrondissements). It is the historic center of Lyon. It is at ...

. In 1996, it was classified as

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a col ...

History

Its construction began in 1835 and ended in 1845, under the direction of architect

Louis-Pierre Baltard Louis-Pierre Baltard (9 July 1764 – 22 January 1846) was a French architect, and engraver and father of Victor Baltard. Life He was born in Paris. He was originally a landscape painter, but in his travels through Italy was struck with the be ...

. It was built in the same location as the previous courthouses that followed since the 15th century. The Palais de Justice de Lyon is often called the 'Palace of the twenty-four columns'. This is one of the finest neo-classical buildings in France. In 1995, construction of a new courthouse in the district of La Part-Dieu allowed the transfer of the Tribunal de Grande Instance, the Tribunal d'Instance and the

Tribunal de commerce In France, the ''tribunal de commerce'' (plural ''tribunaux de commerce'', literally "commercial courts") are the oldest courts in the French judicial organization. They were created at the end of the Middle Ages. The commercial court has jur ...

de Lyon. The

Cour d'appel A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

of Lyon and the

Cour d'assises In France, a ''cour d'assises'', or Court of Assizes or Assize Court, is a criminal trial court with original and appellate limited jurisdiction to hear cases involving defendants accused of felonies, meaning crimes as defined in French law. I ...

of the Rhône remained installed in what is now the historic courthouse of Lyon. In 2008, the building was the subject of a profound renovation (accessibility, upgrading, security...).

Famous trials

There were some famous trials in this building: * August 1884: Italian anarchist

Sante Geronimo Caserio Sante Geronimo Caserio (; 8 September 187316 August 1894) was an Italian anarchist and the assassin of Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of the French Third Republic. Caserio was born in Motta Visconti, Lombardy. On 24 June 1894, he fatally ...

, murder of President of the Republic Sadi Carnot, was sentenced to death. * January 1945:

Charles Maurras Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-parl ...

was sentenced to life imprisonment and national degradation. * July 1987:

Klaus Barbie Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German operative of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primar ...

was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity during the Second World War.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palais De Justice Historique De Lyon Courthouses Buildings and structures in Lyon 5th arrondissement of Lyon Monuments historiques of Lyon