Rocca Tower
The Rocca Tower at the Court of Justice of the European Union is named after Giustina Rocca, the first recorded female lawyer, to emphasise its commitment to equal access to law and justice, as well as equal opportunities. It is the tallest building in Luxembourg, standing at 118 metres. The final addition to the Court’s complex, it houses the Directorate-General for Multilingualism.
Who was Rocca?
Giustina Rocca is considered to be the first female lawyer in history. Her name went down in history for an arbitration award made on 8 April 1500 in a dispute that had been entrusted to her to resolve. In the court of the Venetian governor of Trani, Giustina Rocca rendered her award in the vernacular – rather than in Latin, which was the custom of the time – so that the public who had come to hear it could understand it. She then called upon the unsuccessful party to pay her the customary fees, thus marking, at a time when women had no access to education or to the practice of law, her desire to be treated on equal terms with men vested with such powers.
The Rocca Tower and its role at the Court
The Court of Justice of the European Union named its tallest tower after Giustina Rocca to emphasise its commitment to equal access to law and justice, as well as its commitment to equal opportunities in line with its own case-law.
At 29 floors and standing 118 metres high, the Rocca Tower is the tallest building in Luxembourg.
As the final addition to the Court’s complex, it intentionally breaks the continuity of the Comenius and Montesquieu towers by being set at an angle, creating an architectural “full stop”.
Though it is a single structure, its exterior appears as two joined towers. One façade is identical to the neighbouring Comenius and Montesquieu Towers, in terms of structure and dimensions, while the other tower is black and slightly taller. The Rocca Tower is thus an integral part of the Court’s complex, establishing an architectural dialogue with the Palais and the Comenius and Montesquieu Towers.
The Rocca Tower is connected to the other buildings in the complex via the Gallery, as well as a grand staircase similar to the one linking the Gallery to the Palais.
The Rocca Tower boasts state-of-the-art energy certification, equivalent to that of a passive building. Its heating needs are 55% lower compared to the reference building, reducing primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 45%.
The inauguration of the Rocca Tower in September 2019 brought all of the Court’s services together within a single building complex, uniting all staff and Members under one roof.
Today, the Rocca Tower is home to the Court’s Directorate-General for Multilingualism – the largest service in the institution – where legal proceedings and documents are accurately interpreted and translated into all the official EU languages.
