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Palais de Justice 2022

The Palais de Justice is a judicial center and courthouse located on the Île de la Cité in Paris, France. It originated as the Palais de la Cité, a Gallo-Roman fortress which successively served as the Roman prefect's palace, the Merovingian Frankish kings' residence (it served as King Clovis I's residence from 508 to 511), and as the Capetian kings' Parisian residence (they mostly stayed in Vincennes, Compiegne, and Orleans). King Louis VII of France founded an oratory which would go on to become part of the Conciergerie, and King Philip Augustus established the palace as the capital of the kingdom. King Philip IV of France created a Grand Chamber in the late 13th century, and it hosted theatrical performances, the meetings of the Parlement de Paris, and for judicial sessions until Etienne Marcel's Jacquerie rebellion in 1358 led to King Charles V of France relocating from the palace to the Bastille. The judicial function remained at the palace, which became the Palais de Justice. In 1715, King Louis XV of France attended his first court session at the Palais de Justice at the age of five. During the French Revolution, the Revolutionary Tribunal sat where the Parlement had once convened, rapidly trying and sentencing those accused of opposing the revolution in the "Reign of Terror". In the first half of the 19th century, the Palais de Justice became entirely devoted to the justice system, and, while the building was renovated from 1847 to 1871, the Palais de Justice was destroyed by Communard arsonists in May 1871 during the Paris Commune Revolt. Reconstruction took twenty years. In October 1945, the Palais de Justice housed the trials of the chief officials of Vichy France who had collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. By the 21st century, the Palais de Justice had become too small for its functions, and the Tribunal de Paris moved to a high-rise tower in 2018; the Court of First Instance moved there in 2020. The Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation remain in the Palais de Justice.

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