Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Courthouse of Amiens occupies the site of the former Saint-Martin-aux-Jumeaux Abbey, confiscated at the Revolution and considered unsuitable for judicial use. The abbey buildings were demolished to give way to a new palace, the first in France to bring all territorial jurisdictions under one roof. Its construction, carried out in two phases (1864-1868 and 1874-1880), was led by architects Jean Herbault and Natalis Daullé, then by Jacques Hittorff, who designed the monumental entrance to the Corinthian colonnade.

The building, of neoclassical brick and stone style, adopts a U-shaped shape with a triangular pediment decorated with allegorical sculptures (Justice, Demosthenes, Cicero) made by Justin Sanson. Inside, the 18th century woodwork, originally created by François Cressent for the convent of the Celestines, was resettled. The eclectic decor reflects 19th-century artistic trends, combining ancient references and re-use of historical elements.

Ranked a historic monument in 1994 (including gates, court of honour and garden), the palace was criticized for its structural defects, including collapses due to computational errors. These problems, combined with inappropriate materials, led to the suicide of architect Jean Herbault in 1880. The repairs were then supervised by Émile Ricquier. A modern annex, the Pierre Dubois Space, today completes the judicial whole.

The original project, contested by Hittorff for its lack of "architectural dignity", evolved towards a more classic design, with three rooms of the not lost superimposed. The plans kept in the departmental archives reveal four key steps (1856, 1860, 1865, 1874), illustrating the successive adjustments, including the integration of a garden square to the east and alignment on the new Robert de Luzarches street, opened in the centre of the cathedral.

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