
The never-ending restoration work is enough to make the people of Brussels laugh! Few of us can remember a time when the Palais de Justice wasn’t covered in scaffolding! However, since 2023, the Brussels colossus has been slowly reopening its doors to the more curious for guided tours. These tours, organized by Arkadia and Korei Guided Tours, allow visitors to discover the history and architecture of this emblematic monument, despite the work in progress, notably the restoration of the main facade, which should be completed by the end of 2025. We tell you all about our visit to the Palais de Justice!
The largest in the world!
“Grandeur” is perhaps the word that best describes the Palais de Justice in Brussels. Visible from many of the city’s vantage points, the world’s largest Palais de Justice (26,000 square meters on the ground, can you imagine?!) stuns far and wide, thanks to its 116-meter-high dome. And its interior is just as grand.
It’s impossible to visit each of the 27 courtrooms that make up the palace, but the Arkadia tour, which lasts 1h30, is enough to get a good idea of the building’s scale.
A monumental tour
Our guide takes us to three different courtrooms, where the procedural courts, each more varied than the last, reveal many details of the country’s history, its architecture and, of course, its trials, from which we learn every last detail.
The Salle des Pas Perdus (cover photo), the building’s great central hall and nerve centre, which we pass several times, is as majestic as it is intimidating, so much so that you’d be afraid of getting lost in it. In the dimly lit December we’re visiting, the few rays of sunlight streaming through its high windows almost give us the impression of disconnecting from the world…
An imposing exterior
Once outside, we take time to admire the great columns and impressive statues that populate its covered forecourt of Greco-Roman splendor, which opens onto the pretty Place Poelaert (one of its architects, along with Albert Storrer). Its seemingly sky-high entrance door is suddenly less imposing than expected: after all, it’s the right size for this stone colossus.