115 metre tall tower for the European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice's first tower opened in 1973. As the European Union grew, so did the site - five times to date, in fact.

In the early 1990's, French architect Dominique Perrault was associated with the project, with two towers which comprised the Kirchberg skyline. His third tower will be officially inaugurated on 19 September 2019, although Perrault participated in a guided tour of the building on Wednesday.

The three towers of the Court of Justice and National Library of France in Paris are some of Perrault's most well-known designs.

Multilingualism

Today, more than 2,200 officials, mostly women, work on the site, as well as 11 general attorneys and 84 judges. The institution is based on the principle of multilingualism, explained clerk Arnaud Bohler, and cases can be conducted in any of the 24 languages of the EU.

Classic and contemporary

The architects who contributed to the new building sought to blend two distinctive styles, iconic and ritualistic, with transparent and modern. As an example, the seats in the courtroom hark back to the 18th century, but the arm rests make use of modern technology.

According to Perrault, the third tower is aligned with these concepts, from the inside to the outside, where black meshes with gold to form the entire building. He called it a conclusion or a culmination of the whole architectural project.

The third tower was built within a budget of 132 million euros.