Parliament of Navarre and Béarn, Historic courthouse in Pau, France

The Parliament of Navarre and Béarn occupies Pau's former Palais de Justice, built in 1585 by order of Henry III of Navarre on the site of the Bishop of Lescar's house and St Martin's cemetery. The main building burned in 1716 and was rebuilt on the same spot in 1722. The photograph shows a white tower with grey stone quoins, arched windows and a round opening above its doorway, beside a lower wing with a steep dark roof and tall chimney.

The building was established in 1620 by Louis XIII after Béarn's sovereignty was united with the French crown and local legal institutions were reorganized under royal control. After a fire destroyed it in 1716, it was rebuilt in 1722 at the same location rather than being relocated.

The court's name lived on in local usage: the building is still called Palais du Parlement de Navarre, and the plaque near the tower base recalls its judicial past. Since 1790 the former courtroom site has housed the departmental council of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, so the address now serves citizens rather than litigants.

The building faces the Château de Pau, on the site of the former house of the Bishop of Lescar and Saint-Martin cemetery. It now houses the Conseil départemental des Pyrénées-Atlantiques, so the interior is not a museum: visits depend on the institution's own opening arrangements. The small plaque near the tower base is the detail to look for from the street.

The courthouse stands on the site of the house of the Bishop of Lescar and the Saint-Martin cemetery; Henry III of Navarre ordered the Palais de Justice built there in 1585. After the 1716 fire a reconstruction on the edge of the Place Royale was planned, yet the building returned to this spot in 1722.