The Royal Courts of Justice looks like it wandered out of a Harry Potter film and decided to practice law instead.
This Victorian Gothic Revival fortress of litigation, with its turrets and spires reaching for legal supremacy, is one of Europe's largest court buildings. Built in 1882 after architect George Edmund Street examined 97 different designs and drove himself to exhaustion, it houses the High Court and Court of Appeal, where Britain's most consequential civil cases unfold.
Inside, 88 courtrooms and three and a half miles of corridors create a labyrinth where divorce settlements, libel cases and corporate disputes play out beneath vaulted ceilings. The Great Hall, stretching 238 feet with its mosaic floor depicting the history of law, feels more cathedral than courthouse.
VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours trace the building's role in London's legal landscape, from its Victorian origins to its place alongside the ancient Inns of Court that have dispensed justice here for centuries.