Located in the heart of Paris on the Île de la Cité, the law courts (the "Palace of Justice") occupy more than 4 hectares of land and, with the various floors, have nearly 200,000 sq. m. of space. The building contains around 24 kilometers of hallways, 7,000 doors and more than 3,150 windows.
Four thousand magistrates and civil servants work there everyday, but if you count all of the legal officers, lawyers, police officers and gendarmes, defendants, tourists and spectators who come to the law courts on a given day, the building welcomes an average of 15,000 people daily.
The security of the law courts is ensured by the Republican Guard, under the command of a lieutenant-colonel. In the last 20 years, the soldiers of the Guard have been assisted in this task by squadrons of gendarmes mobiles from the provinces. Several hundred soldiers are posted to ensure the protection and security of the law courts.