UG buildings: the Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society - RCS (‘The old courthouse’)

The University of Groningen as we know it now is more than the Academy Building alone. In this series, based on the podwalk and the booklet In het spoor van de Academie (in Dutch only), we are putting a spotlight on various buildings—and a work of art—of the UG and their histories. In this episode: the Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society, i.e. the old courthouse.

The building at Oude Boteringestraat 36 houses the Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society, formerly known as the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. The Faculty has existed since the founding of the UG in 1614 and was previously housed at various other locations.

The building served as a court of law between 1755 and 1998. It dates from 1627 and was built in the Dutch Renaissance style. At the end of the last century, the court moved to Guyotplein some 3oo metres away. Inside the old courthouse you can still find the beautiful courtroom. The court’s former cells are now used as study areas, with inscriptions left intact such as ‘Fuckzooi hier’ [Screw this place], or ‘Lieve Heer geef me een geweer dan schiet ik alle rechters neer’ [Dear Lord give me a gun and I will shoot down all the judges].

Above the front door, you will find a sandstone statue of Lady Justice—the personification of justice. The closed eyes represent justice irrespective of persons; it is not the people themselves who are heard and judged, but only the facts and deeds. The scales represent the weighing of evidence and testimonies, while the sword refers to the verdict.

In the garden behind the building—freely accessible when the gate is open—stands the sculpture group Mediterende Begijnen [Meditating Beguines] (Ron Caspers, 2002). The work of art refers to the houses for Beguines: widows or unmarried women who lived together as nuns without taking the convent oath. These houses stood on the site of the Academy Building before the Reformation.

Want to find out more?

Check out the previous edition on

• The Academy Building

• The Ubbo Emmius monument

• The University Library
• The Röling Building
• The former Laboratory for Hygiene

• The former Astronomy Laboratory
• The Institute of Archaeology
• The House with the 13 Temples
  

Are you interested in the buildings and history of the UG? You can download the podwalk ‘In the footsteps of the Academy’ for free. Go to the App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Android) and search for ‘Op stap met Aletta’. At the I-shop (University Shop), the walking guide In het spoor van de Academie (Dutch only) is available: www.rug.nl/winkel.