La Palace De Justice, Brussels, Aug 2010

[rigsby]

After enjoying a nice mixed grill in a Brussels restaurant we went to climb La Palace De Justice. When we got there we had to wait for a police car to go who was parked in our way. Once he had gone we started to climb up the scaf over roofs onto more scaf, It was lots of fun like a giant playground. When we got to the top the views were stunning we could have easily sat up there all night.

After about a hour at the top we decide to go because it was getting late and we had arranged to stay at a friends and he was waiting up for us. Just as we got to the bottom one of the group realises they had left there bag at the top :crazy so they had to climb back up to get it.
But there was another problem the police car was back
We waited him out for the second time and then made our exit.

History from Wiki

In 1860, during the reign of Léopold I, a Royal decree announced the building of the Palace of Justice and an international architecture contest was organised for its design. The designs entered in the contest were found to be unacceptable and were thus rejected. The then minister of justice Tesch appointed Joseph Poelaert to design the building in 1861. The first stone was laid on October 31, 1866, the building was only after the death of its architect inaugurated on October 15, 1883.

Although the construction took place during the reign of Léopold II, he showed little interest in the building.

For the building of the Palace of Justice, a large part of the city quarter of the Marollen was demolished. The inhabitants were forced to move by Poelaert and the police. The word architect became one of the most serious insults in Brussels. The Palace's location is on the Galgenberg hill, where in the Middle Ages convicted criminals were hanged.

Stats

Owner Belgian government
Current tenants Belgian court
Started 31 October 1866
Inaugurated 15 October 1883
Height 104 metres (341 ft)
Diameter 160 by 150 metres (520 × 490 ft)
Floor area 26,000 square metres (280,000 sq ft)
Cost 45 million Belgian franc
Architect Joseph Poelaert