Prince-Bishops' Palace of Liège

The Prince-Bishop's Palace, which today houses the Palace of Justice and the seat of the provincial government, is often cited as one of the largest civil buildings in the Gothic style in the world.

The Prince-Bishops' Palace (French: Palais des Princes-Evêques) is a historic building on Place Saint-Lambert in central Liège, Belgium. It was the residence of the former Prince Bishops of Liège and once faced the monumental St Lambert Cathedral. It now houses the Palais de Justice of Liège and the Provincial Palace, i.e. the government building of the province of Liège.

The Palace of the Prince-Bishops in the Belgian city of Liège is located on the Place Saint-Lambert in the heart of the city. Until the end of the 18th century, it was opposite the Saint-Lambert Cathedral, which was destroyed by revolutionaries.
The current building, with its imposing façade, is the third building to house the Prince-Bishops of Liège. A first palace was integrated into the fortifications by Prince-Bishop Notger, but that building disappeared in a fire in 1185. It was rebuilt by Rudolf of Zähringen. This construction suffered greatly during the plundering of the city by the troops of Charles the Bold and also burned down in 1505.
Everhard van der Marck, who became prince-bishop in 1505, began the construction of a new palace, the construction of which he entrusted to Arnold van Mulken in 1526. Construction lasted until the end of the 16th century. The very special courtyard (Cour d'Honneur) is surrounded by a colonnade with sixty Renaissance columns of different types. Some of the capitals are decorated with masks and heads with feather headdresses based on the Aztec model. Apparently the bishop was fascinated by the treasures of the Aztec empire that had been conquered in 1521.
The south facade was completely renovated after a fire in 1734, under the direction of the Brussels architect Johannes Andreas Anneessens. In 1849, a new wing was built on the west side to house the provincial government. In 2010, the Justice Department and the provincial government occupied the former palace.