Vienna Photos: Justizpalast at the Ringstraße, Vienna

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The Justizpalast is a court building right next to the Houses of Parliament (Parlamentsgebäude) and set slightly aside from the Ringstraße, the circular boulevard around Vienna′s first district. The Justizpalast was built in the late 19th century, at the peak of Vienna′s historicist madness. The building always reminds be of a Las Vegas casino and in terms of tastelessness and lack of authenticity, it is hard to beat the Justizpalast.

The architect in charge must have been obsessed with pillars and a slightly distorted view of antiquity. International tourists often don′t pay much attention to the Justizpalast; there are too many historicist houses in Vienna to make it truly outstanding. However, I chose to include the picture above in this gallery for a reason: Essentially all other important, public, representative Ringstraße-buildings in historicist style have some original feature that makes them recognisable; the Justizpalast lacks originality, yet comprises all tacky elements of his time.

Imperial arrogance, the smell of new money and an incredibly strong need for representation. The neighbouring buildings were built in a similar spirit: The Houses of Parliaments on the right hand side, the Palais Epstein and then the Naturhistorisches and Kunsthistorisches Museum on the left hand side.