Building

Architects

Marek Budzyński, Zbigniew Badowski

Original design

1991

Construction completed

1999

The beautiful baroque Krasiński Palace (also known as the Palace of the Republic), at 5 Krasiński Square in Warsaw, was the pre-war seat of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Poland. The building was in the centre of Warsaw’s judicial district. The classicist Badeni Palace, neighbouring the Supreme Court, housed the Warsaw Court of Appeal. Nearby, at 7 Długa Street, there was the Ministry of Justice. Not far away, at 24 Miodowa Street, there was the Supreme Administrative Tribunal – the legal predecessor of the present Supreme Administrative Court. Further down Miodowa Street, behind the round monumental entrance gate, in the former Pac Palace, there was the Warsaw Regional Court. However, after the Second World War those judicial institutions did not return to their previous buildings. The Badeni Palace, destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising, was not rebuilt, and due to the reform of the Polish justice system that took place in the late 1940s courts of appeal as well as the Supreme Administrative Tribunal were abolished. The Ministry of Health moved into the Pac Palace, after its reconstruction, taking the place of the Regional Court.

The Supreme Court, as most state institutions shortly after the war, was temporarily located in Łódź, a city that suffered little war damage. However, the relocation of the Court proved to be quite protracted - it remained in Łódź for five years – and the move to the capital city did not take place until early 1950. The Supreme Court did not return to Krasiński Square because the only suitable building for the Court in Warsaw was then the monumental building of the municipal courts on Ogrodowa Street, completed just before the war outbreak.

In the early 1990s, it became obvious that it was necessary to move the Supreme Court to a new, larger building, as working conditions for the judges in the old building on Ogrodowa Street were difficult and there was not enough space.

In 1991, a competition for the design of the Supreme Court building to be constructed on an empty plot of land opposite the Krasinski Palace was announced. The Court was to return to its previous location, however, no longer to the Krasiński Palace (which was rebuilt after the war and now housing the special collections unit of the National Library), but to the eastern side of Krasiński Square. The winning architectural project was designed by the studio of architects Marek Budzyński and Zbigniew Badowski and associates. The project was realised with only minor changes to the architects’ original concept. The construction of the building lasted over forty months. On 11 November 1999, the building was officially opened.

 The design of the building was, according to the architects, to ‘illustrate the role of the Laws in human life’. Hence the idea to surround the Court with a chain of ‘Pillars of Law’, columns decorated with selected quotations from Roman law (but not only - there are also several maxims from old Polish law). The set of legal maxims was chosen by a team of Romanists under the guidance of Professor Witold Wołodkiewicz of the University of Warsaw. The text of each Latin maxim is followed by a Polish translation and a source note. The maxims may also be found on the columns of the main inner hall of the building, for instance, the column on the left states: Si in ius vocat, ito, which means ‘Whosoever is summoned by a court of law shall appear in that court in compliance with the summons’. The heads of the columns are decorated with stylised images of the Scales of Justice of Themis, the goddess of justice. On the columns near the monument of Warsaw Uprising Insurgents, this image is replaced by the symbol of Fighting Poland - the letter ‘P’, the lower part of which has the form of an anchor.

The total useful floor area of the building is almost 40,000 square metres. The Supreme Court occupies 15 645 sq m (39,3% of the total surface), the Court of Appeal - 7 854 sq m, the Institute of National Remembrance - 4 901 sq m, and the municipal underground car park - 11 196 sq m. The building is 20 meters high, it has two underground storeys, four aboveground storeys and a terrace with a top garden. The building can accommodate almost 1,200 people - 741 permanent users (judges, clerks and other court staff) and 450 visitors.

There are two official entrances to the Court from Krasiński Square (one to the Supreme Court, the other to the Court of Appeal).

The Court building is surrounded by seventy-six massive green columns. The patinated copper effect was achieved by artificially patinating of the cladding copper sheets. The colour of the patina was specially selected - it matches the colour of old copper on the roofs and domes of churches and palaces in Warsaw. Over a decade of rain, snow and wind will destroy the artificial uniform patina and expose the naturally patinated copper sheets.

Another material used extensively by the designers is glass. The facade of the building is covered with greenish reflective glass, which colourfully harmonises with the colour of the columns. The staircase in the main hall is almost entirely made of transparent and semi-transparent light green glass. The hydraulic lifts that operate inside the transparent lift shaft are also made of transparent or semi-transparent greenish glass.

The Supreme Court has nine courtrooms - eight smaller ones for daily court work and one large, representative room on the third floor of the building. It is undoubtedly needed when ruling on the validity of elections (issued by the full Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber). Most of the courtrooms are lit by natural daylight which flows in through a glass ceiling.

On the side of the car park on Świętojerska Street, in the small inner courtyard of the Supreme Court, three sculptures - slender female figures - stand on a shallow water surface. They symbolise Faith, Hope and Love.

dr hab. Antoni Bojańczyk

➔ Metryczka