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Palais de Justice. BRUSSELS. 10. Route. 105
We return to the Rue de la Régence. The first building on the
left beyond the Petit Sablon is the Conservatoire Royal de Musique
(Pl. D, 5), built in 1876-77 by Cluysenaar. The pediment-group
is by Ch. van der Stappen. In the concert-hall (concerts, see p. 95)
is an organ by Cayaillé-Col. The Conservatoire possesses the most
important *Collection of Musical Instruments, from the 16th cent.
onwards, in Europe, now exhibited in the wing at the back of the
building, Rue aux Laines 11 (adm., see p. 96; large scientific
catalogue by V. Mahillon, the founder of the collection, 5 fr.). The
Musée Ancien is on the first floor, the Musée Ethnographique on the
second. — Adjacent is the Synagogue (Pl. D, 5), a building in the
Romanesque style by De Keyser (1878).
The Rue de la Régence and the Pace PozLazRt, in which it
ends, are terminated on the S.W. by the —
**Palais de Justice(Pl. 0, D, 5,6), an edifice designed on a most
ambitious scale by Jos. Poelaert, begun in 1866 under the super-
intendence of Wellens, and inaugurated in 1883. The cost of the
building amounted to about 44 million franes (1,760,0007.). It is
the largest architectural work of the 49th century, and is certainly
one of the most remarkable, if not one of the most beautiful, of
modern buildings. The area of the building is 270,000 sq. ft., con-
siderably exceeding that of St. Peter’s at Rome (see p. 173). The
inequalit of the site added greatly to the magnitude of the task.
The principal fagade, next the Place Polaert, has two projecting
wings, connected by a double colonnade, and a large portal ap-
proached by a spacious flight of steps. This facade has but two
stories, while the side-fagades, farther down the slope, have three,
and the rear-fagade four. Above the main body of the building rises
another rectangular structure surrounded with columns; this supports
a drum or rotunda, also encircled with columns, while the summit
of the whole is formed by a comparatively small dome, the gilded
crown on the top of which is 340 ft. above the Place Poelaert. The
rotunda is embellished with colossal figures of Justice, Law, Strength,
and Clemency, by Dutrieuzx, Desenfans, Vingotte, and De Tombay.
The huge and massive pile forcibly suggests the mighty structures
of ancient Egypt or Assyria; but in details (pilasters, columns,
pediments, cornices) the Greco-Roman style has been adhered to.
An adequate conception of the size of the building can be ob-
tained only by a visit to the interior (adm., see p- 97). This in-
cludes 27 large court-rooms for the supreme courts of Belgium and
for the provincial civil and criminal courts of Brabant; 245 other
apartments for the judges, officials, etc.; and 8 open courts.
From the main portal in the Place Polaert the great flight of
steps ascends through the vestibule to the Spacious Salle des Pas
Perdus, or waiting-room. The vestibule is adorned with colossal
statues of Demosthenes and Lycurgus (to the right) and of Cicero
and Ulpian (to the left). The Salle des Pas-Perd us, in which the
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