Place de Verdun

Place de Verdun centers on a wide, gravel-covered square dominated by the austere stone facade of the Palais de Justice. This site once belonged to the convent of the Preaching Friars, but the structure burned down in eighteen twenty-six. A local judge named Balthazar Bernard demanded a courthouse that projected the authority of the French state. He succeeded in clearing the ruins to build this neoclassical temple, which officially opened in eighteen thirty-two, permanently altering the city center's public life.