View of the Architecture of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts of the European Union exhibition installation in the Ancien Palais of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg
Photograph: Copyright CJCE

Judicial Architecture Thematic Group Co-Organizes Exhibition in Luxembourg

On the occasion of the inauguration of the new palais designed by French architect Dominique Perrault, the Court of Justice of the European Communities is holding an exhibition entitled The Architecture of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts of the Member States of the European Union. A Photographic Overview.

This photographic exhibition is devoted to the buildings which accommodate the highest jurisdictions of the twenty-seven member states. It displays architecture which, whatever the era in which it was conceived, manifests the need for a symbol expressing both the timeless idea of justice and the legitimacy of the institution which embodies it. Comprising thirty-six panels, the exhibition presents photographs of the buildings housing sixty-five higher national courts.

The EAHN Judicial Architecture Thematic Group assisted the exhibition organizers with arranging the display of the collected visual documentation. For the Court, although it “candidly pointed out the epistemological weakness of this photographic compilation,” it “nonetheless emphasizes one of its great merits: that of opening up the field of research and reflection on the architecture of Europe’s courthouses.” (Catalogue, p. 8.).

In addition, the Court asked the EAHN Judicial Architecture Thematic Group to write the short introduction and conclusion for the exhibition catalogue (in French, the official language of the Court): Cour de justice des Communautés européennes, Luxembourg,editor. L’architecture des Cours constitutionnelles et suprêmes des États membres de l’Union européenne. Aperçus photographiques. Brussels: Didier Devillez Éditeur, 2009, 136 pp., ISBN 978-92-829-0938-6.

The exhibition was inaugurated on 30 March, in presence of the presidents of the constitutional and supreme courts of the member states of the European Union. It will be on display in the Gallerie of the Ancien Palais in Luxembourg until 15 July.

Christine Mengin
Université Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne)