Château de Soum

In 1791, there was only one Justice of the Peace for the whole canton of Lourdes.

Previously, in 1790, the General Council of the Commune of Lourdes informed the National Assembly that the prisons of the Castle of Lourdes, abolished as a State prison, could be useful if "the august National Assembly deigned to fix in Lourdes a district seat as the Town dares to hope for its justice...".

When France was reorganised after the revolutionary period, the first court was transferred from Argelès to Lourdes in 1804.

It was installed in a new building, built at the expense of the town, in the rue du Tribunal (rue Baron Duprat, now the Police Station).

From 1875 to 1884, a new courthouse was built in Charles de Gaulle Square (as it is now called).

It contained two courtrooms, the Salle des Pas-Perdus, the Judges' Chambers, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Lawyers' Chambers and the Registry.

It is now the Palais des Congrès.