Description of the attraction
The Palace of Justice is the main seat of the Supreme Court of Peru and a symbol of the judiciary. It is located in the center of Lima, opposite the Alley of Naval Heroes. The idea of building a palace appeared during the reign of Augusto Legui. The construction of the building was completed 10 years later, under the rule of the new president, Oscar Benavides, in 1939.
At the entrance to the building of the Palace of Justice, there are two marble lions on both sides of the main staircase. According to folk tradition, the inhabitants of Peru, honoring the strength and wisdom of tigers and lions, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries tried to decorate their palaces and parks with statues. After the war in the Pacific Ocean (1979-1883), only a small part of them remained in their places, the main part of the marble statues of lions were transported to Paseo Colon Avenue in the center of Lima.
The neoclassical facade of the building was designed by Polish architect Bruno Paprowski, who was inspired by the Palais de Justice, built in Brussels (Belgium) by architect Joseph Poulart in an eclectic style with Greco-Roman dome elements. On the day of the opening of the Palace of Justice in Lima in 1939, a commemorative bronze medal was minted with an imprint of the general appearance of the Palace of Justice, which bears some resemblance to the Palacio del Congreso de la Nazz in Buenos Aires.
With the growth and development of the state, most of the courts were forced to settle in other premises. Currently, the Palace of Justice houses only the Supreme Court, the Criminal Division of the Judicial District of Lima, the Archive (in the basement of the building), the Lima Bar Association and several criminal courts of first instance in Peru. Also in the basement of the building there is a prison for pre-trial detention of persons over whom an arrest or temporary detention order hangs, for quick access to judges and their assistants in the line of duty to these persons.
