Landgericht Bremen

Stand in Bremen's old town and one whole block belongs to the law. Completed in 1906, the Landgericht Bremen serves as the State of Bremen's courthouse. It houses judicial services, the Public Prosecutor's department and parts of the district court, with wheelchair access. Ludwig Klingenberg and Hugo Weber, both Oldenburg architects, raised the building and its remand prison in two campaigns between 1891 and 1906. Round towers, granite window frames and diamond-shaped facade patterns give the walls their Wilhelmine Historicism. The style borrows from the French Renaissance, above all from the Château de Blois.

The cornice alone mixes sandstone and bronze: lions, the heads of Megaera and Medusa, and dragons that spout rainwater. Above the entrance, stained glass shows the Ten Commandments, while the first-floor windows facing Violenstraße carry the cardinal virtues. Carved animals and birds on the corbels stand for vice in the struggle for virtue. Rudolph Lauer's statue of Justice watches over Ostertorstraße, and a maiolica crest presents the Hanseatic Arms, sign of shipping and trade.

The building largely escaped wartime damage, has been restored several times and carries listed status dating from 1992. Next door, the Forum am Wall extends the historic character of the quarter. A plaque on Ostertorstraße gives the place its creed: 'This building is dedicated to upholding the law and to defying evil.'