Gezicht op het palais de justice in Montpellier c. 1860 - 1880

Étienne Neurdein made this stereo card photograph of the Palais de Justice in Montpellier, France. The image presents the Palace as a monument to French civic virtue. Photographs like this one were distributed commercially and created a shared visual culture. The Palace is rendered in a neoclassical style, popular at the time for government buildings, which consciously evoked the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, reminding viewers of the origins of democracy and law. In Neurdein’s image, this is meant to suggest that France, too, is a modern republic that prizes justice. The photograph suggests several questions for the social historian. How does the Palace function as a symbol of state power? How might its visual design influence public perceptions of the legal system? We can study documents such as architectural plans, government records, and newspaper articles to discover more about the building's history.