When we say that the Palais-de-Justice was erected by Lewis XIIth, in
1499, as a court of exchecquer, which that prince had arranged should be
held at Rouen, we must not comprehend that part of the building called
the _salle des Procureurs_, or attorneys hall, which dates from 1493,
and which was erected (as we have mentioned at the article exchange), as
a place of meeting for the merchants of the town. Even at the present
time, this hall calls forth the admiration of the best architects. Its
length is one hundred and fifty feet, by fifty in breadth. Its lofty
roof is not supported by a single pillar; the ingenuity of the work is
here contrasted with its boldness of conception. The only ornaments
which decorate the walls of the hall are elegant empty niches, which are
detached in relief, and at equal distances. The principal staircase,
which leads up to the salle des Procureurs, was erected a few years
since, under the superintendence of M. Gregoire. The _Conciergerie_ and
prisons are situated under this hall.
[Illustration: Palais de Justice]
The Palais-de-Justice, properly so called, forms as it were one side of
a square, at the northern extremity of the salle des Procureurs. Its
facade, which looks towards the south, is two hundred feet in length,
and is ornamented with every thing that the architecture of the time
possessed of the richest and most delicate. The angular pillars of the
piers are covered with canopied statues and small steeples, which extend
from the base to the summit; the numerous ornaments, which surround the
windows, those which accompany and surmount the windows of the roof; the
leaden balustrade which surrounds the roof, the arcades which form a
gallery, and are carried along the whole of the entablature, lastly, the
elegant octangular turret which occupies the middle of the facade and
separates it into two equal parts, are of the greatest beauty and purity
of taste, in spite of a certain mixture in the style, which
characterizes the transition from gothic architecture to that of the
_renaissance_, style which already began to be in use. The name of the
architect, unknown till recently, is Roger Ango.
At the farther end of the salle des Procureurs is a door, which leads
into the ancient _Grand Chambre_ (great Chamber), in which the court of
assizes are now held. This hall may be considered as the finest in the
kingdom. The ceiling, which is divided into sculptured compartments,
decorated with gilt bronze ornaments, is of oak to which time has given
the appearance of ebony. The whole of the flooring was formerly covered
with _arabesques_, according to the custom of the reign of Lewis the
XIIth. From this floor, an ancient fire place which existed in the
_Chambre de Conseil_, or Counsel Hall, a curious painting which the
antiquarian Millin mentions in his _national antiquities_ and on which
witnesses were sworn have all disappeared.
On the exterior, only two parts of this elegant edifice, that which is
exposed to the setting sun, and the middle one to the south, have
retained their primitive beauty. The latter is now under repair and
renovation. At the commencement of the last century, the modern portion
of the building which faces the west, was erected. The front of this
building fell to the ground on the 10th of april 1812, and brought down
with it the whole ceiling, which was painted by the celebrated Jouvenet,
who, having his right hand paralysed, painted with his left, and in a
manner worthy of such a painter, the _Triumph of Justice_.
Considerable embellishments have taken place in the court of the Palais.
The massive flight of stone steps, which led to the _salle des
Procureurs_, and which especially hid from view the beautiful angular
turret, has been removed. A new staircase has been erected at the middle
of the facade, before the door of the prisons, the entrance to which, is
at the side. This staircase is composed of a single straight flight, of
five metres (fifteen feet) in breadth, and is crowned by a porch in the
style of the building. The ancient wall, which closed the court on the
side of the rue aux Juifs, has been replaced by a cast iron railing, in
the gothic style. The front of the Palais being thus exposed to view,
the aspect of the edifice becomes as imposing as picturesque. Behind the
Palais-de-Justice, in the rue Saint-Lo, is a large building, which
answers the purpose of a court of appeals, for the _cour royale_. The
offices of the town-hall were established here during the revolution. It
was formerly the residence of the first presidents of the parliament of
Normandy.