Landesgericht für Strafsachen Wien

The Landesgericht für Strafsachen Wien stands in the 8th district of Vienna, Josefstadt, on a large site that also houses the city’s biggest judicial prison. The complex, known locally as the ‘Grey House’, is the largest ordinary court in Austria and one of twenty Landesgerichte. It serves as both a court of first and second instance, dealing with serious crimes and appeals from lower courts. The court is worth visiting for its scale and history. Every day about 1 500 people pass through its corridors, where 70 judges and 130 support staff organise more than 5 000 cases each year. The attached prison, the Justizanstalt Wien-Josefstadt, holds over 1 200 inmates and has been part of the site since the building opened in 1839. Presidents Friedrich Forsthuber and his two vice-presidents Martina Spreitzer-Kropiunik and Christina Salzborn oversee its work. Visitors find a monumental sandstone façade and an interior divided into three main wings. The courtrooms include a grand jury hall on the second floor with double-height ceilings, now subdivided. In the prison yard, former execution buildings recall the site’s darker past, including a room where 650 names of resistance fighters are recorded. The whole complex remains an active centre of justice in the heart of the city.