A Long Walk to Justice

While most tourists slip through Johannesburg seeing little more than the airport, those who want to understand the darker days in South Africa's not-so-distant past should visit Constitution Hill. Until 1983 this was home to the Old Fort Prison, where thousands of political prisoners once awaited trial. Today it has been partially preserved as a museum, but the old Awaiting Trial Block has been demolished, and in its place is the new Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land. It's the end result of a competition to "create a building rooted in the South African landscape, physically and culturally," and South African architects OMM Design Workshop and Urban Solutions have built an inspiring legacy. The foyer's slanted mosaic pillars and silver leaflike lights are a metaphor for the trees under which Africans traditionally resolve legal disputes. In the sunken courtroom, a ribbon of glass at street level ensures that justice is always visible to those it should protect.

And dividing this potent symbol of equality from the relics of apartheid are the Great African Steps, built with 150,000 bricks from the demolished cellblock. Rarely does the phrase "out of darkness comes light" have so much resonance. constitutionhill.org.za