Walking through your own city, you see many things but rarely really look at them. Once you start taking photographs, your eyes change: suddenly you notice details in buildings, artworks and streets that you must have walked past a hundred times. Later, at home, you look them up online and discover the stories behind them.

The Supreme Court building on Župné námestie is one of those places. It is a late work by architect Vladimír Dedeček and a striking example of 1980s state architecture. Its long, heavy form and closed façade make it feel strict and distant, more like a fortress of power than an open public institution. It also has its own artwork: a large bronze relief called “Will of the People”, showing the figure of Justice holding a book that represents the constitution, with the scales hanging from her neck.

Today we can read this building in two ways. On the one hand, it is an important part of the city’s history, with a clear artistic idea and high-quality craftsmanship. On the other hand, for many people it feels cold, closed and tied to an older idea of power and the state. A balanced view is to see it as a valuable piece of architectural heritage that should be carefully restored and adapted, so that it keeps its artistic meaning but better matches today’s ideas of a more open, citizen‑friendly public building.