The Justizpalast Munich (Palace of Justice) are two courthouses and administrative buildings in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Buildings

Justizpalast

The palatial (old) ''Palace of Justice'' was constructed in 1890–97 by the architect Friedrich von Thiersch in Neo-Baroque style at the west side of the

Karlsplatz (Stachus) Stachus is a large square in central Munich, Bavaria. The square was officially named Karlsplatz in 1797 after the unpopular Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria. Munich natives seldom use that name, calling the square instead ''Stachus'', aft ...

. The building of the

Gründerzeit The (; ) was a period of Economic history of Europe (1000 AD–present), European economic history in mid- and late-19th century German Empire, Germany and Austria-Hungary between Industrialization in Germany, industrialization and the great P ...

is dominated by a central glass dome (67 meters). The building is 138 meters long and 80 meters deep. The center of the building, which was designed around two courtyards, is the central hall measuring 19 m x 29 m. Lichthof Justizpalast Muenchen

The four façades of the free-standing building are of varying proportions, but they have similarities with the granite base as a substructure and the colossal arrangement of pilasters or columns on the central structure and the corners. The three upper floors are surrounded by window frames and gables, the second floor being emphasized the most. On the northern façade, the east and west wings are projected as a corner avant-corps and the central section. Six columns with

Corinthian capital The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

s here form the upper floor. The longitudinal fronts and corner protrusions of the southern façade are similar to those of the northern façade, but the middle avant-corps is less prominent and is divided by pilasters. On the ground floor there is an open porch, which once served as an underpass for carriages. On the first floor, the front porch serves as a balcony. The three central axes of the avant-corps are crowned by a gable with the Bavarian coat of arms. On the pediment stands the statue of Justitia, flanked by Innocence and Vice. The east facade is strongly marked by the central avant-corps with a convex front and obelisks at all four corner points. The Justizpalast houses the Bavarian Department of Justice and the District Court I of Munich. The People's Court sentenced the members of the

White Rose The White Rose (, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students and one professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Munich ...

in the Justizpalast in 1943. The "White Rose Hall" in the building is today a memorial place. In 1962 Vera Brühne and in 2014

Uli Hoeneß Ulrich "Uli" Hoeneß (; born 5 January 1952) is a German football executive and former professional player who played as a forward. He played for the West Germany at one World Cup and two European Championships, winning one tournament of each ...

were convicted in the Justizpalast.

New Justizpalast

Since the huge building turned out to be too small Friedrich von Thiersch constructed already in 1905 at the west side of the building the so-called ''New Justizpalast''. This time he created the courthouse in strong contrast to the Justizpalast in red brick stone in northern

Brick Gothic Brick Gothic (, , ) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Baltic region, Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resources of standing rock (though Glacial erratic, ...

style with two towers. The New Justice Building was once decorated with facade murals, now gone. The end facades are marked by high stepped gables and central dock towers on each of the sides are flanked by similar gables. The New Justizpalast houses the Bavarian Constitutional Court and the Higher Regional Court.

References

External links

* Tourist attractions in Munich Baroque Revival architecture Gothic Revival architecture in Germany Buildings and structures in Munich Historicist architecture in Munich Government buildings completed in 1897 Government buildings completed in 1905 Courthouses in Germany Maxvorstadt 1897 establishments in Germany {{Bavaria-struct-stub