Place de Verdun

The Place de Verdun is defined by the massive Neoclassical façade of the Palais de Justice, a building that anchors this busy square with its grand stone staircase and columned portico. This site was once occupied by the medieval Palais Comtal, the seat of the Counts of Provence, before the city decided to replace the old structure with a monumental courthouse. In seventeen eighty-seven, architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux began a project so ambitious it required the demolition of over two hundred houses to clear the necessary space.