The Judicial Building () is a governmental building in

Zhongzheng District Zhongzheng District (also Jhongjheng District) is a District (Taiwan), district in Taipei. It is home to most of the national government buildings of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan), including the Presidential Office Building, Taipei, P ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. It houses several judicial agencies of

, including *

Judicial Yuan The Judicial Yuan () is the judicial branch of the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan.''See'' Constitution arts. 77-82, ''available at'' ''See'' Additional Articles of the Constitution art. 5, ''available at'' It runs a Constitution ...

— the

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

and

constitutional court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

of the

government of the Republic of China The Government of the Republic of China, is the national government of the Republic of China whose ''de facto'' territory currently consists of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other island groups in the "free area". Governed by the De ...

, *

Taiwan High Court The high courts () are the intermediate appellate courts under the law of Taiwan. The modern court system of Taiwan was founded in 1896, under the Japanese era. Currently there are six high courts and branches in Taiwan. History In 1896, the Hig ...

, *

Taiwan High Prosecutors Office The Taiwan High Prosecutors Office (THPO; ) is located in Taipei, Taiwan. The territorial jurisdiction covers the jurisdictions of Taipei, Shilin District, Shilin, New Taipei, Taoyuan City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Keelung and Yilan County, Taiwan, Yilan ...

, and * Disciplinary Sanction Court.

History

Originally constructed as the High Court of the

Government-General of Taiwan The Government-General of Taiwan (Japanese: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn: ''Taiwan Sōtoku-fu''; ; Tâi-lô: Tâi-uân Tsóng-tok-hú; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ=Thòi-vân Chúng-tuk-fú) was the government that governed Taiwan under Japanese rule between 189 ...

(, ''Taiwan Sōtokufu Kōtō Hōin''), it was a major governmental building of the

Japanese era The , also known as , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being ""), followed by the literal ...

. It was the highest-level judicial institution of its day, though still subordinate to the

Governor-General of Taiwan The governor-general of Taiwan ( ja, 臺灣總督, Taiwan Sōtoku) was the head of the Government-General of Taiwan in the Japanese era (including Formosa and the Pescadores) when they were part of the Empire of Japan, from 1895 to 1945. The Jap ...

's office. It held authority over the district courts and prosecutor's offices of Taipei and

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

. Construction began on the building in 1929 and was completed in 1934.

Architecture

The building was designed by the Japanese architect

Ide Kaoru Ide Kaoru (井手薰,いでかおる, February 6, 1879 - May 11, 1944) was Chief Architect of the Governor-General's Office in Taiwan, when the island was part of the Japanese Empire. He held office in the Building and Repairs section of th ...

, whose other well-known works include the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan. ...

building and

Zhongshan Hall Zhongshan Hall () is a historical building which originally functioned as the Taipei (Taihoku) City Public Auditorium (public hall). It is located at 98 Yanping South Road in the Ximending neighborhood of Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan. In 1 ...

in Taipei. Originally it had three floors, with one more added later. The building is laid out in the

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...

for "sun" (

日 Radical 72 or radical sun () meaning "sun" or " day" is one of the 34 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 4 strokes. In the ''Kangxi Dictionary'', there are 453 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical. is also ...

)· Designed along minimalist lines in an eclectic style, the building features two skylights for ventilation and ambient lights, as well as arched doors and windows. Its light green exterior wall tiles served to enhance air defence. One of its unusual features is the roof of the central tower. Octagonal with a prominent rim and a rippled surface, it is helmet-shaped in a manner reminiscent of the bell-and drum tower of

Lungshan Temple of Manka Bangka Lungshan Temple (also Lungshan Temple of Manka, Mengjia Longshan Temple) is a Chinese folk religious temple in Wanhua District (alternately known as Bangka/Mengjia), Taipei, Taiwan. The temple was built in Taipei in 1738 by settlers from ...

Wanhua District Wanhua District, known in Taiwanese Hokkien as Báng-kah khu and historically as "Monga" or "Monka", is a district in Taipei, Taiwan. It is Taipei's oldest district. The district is home to historic buildings such as the Bangka Lungshan Temple, ...

. This incorporation of local Taiwanese architectural forms was an element of the Imperial Crown Style, reflecting the Japanese imperialist government's ideology of the

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere The , also known as the GEACPS, was a concept that was developed in the Empire of Japan and propagated to Asian populations which were occupied by it from 1931 to 1945, and which officially aimed at creating a self-sufficient bloc of Asian peo ...

through a fusion of local design features.

References

External links

Judicial Building
at the Bureau of Cultural Heritage website {{commons category, Judicial Yuan Building 1934 establishments in Taiwan Buildings and structures completed in 1934 Buildings and structures in Taipei Former courthouses National supreme court buildings Imperial Crown Style architecture National monuments of Taiwan