From the Idea to the Foundation

The establishment of the Forum Recht Foundation is the result of years of development that was shaped and supported by numerous stakeholders. The origins go back to Karlsruhe's application to be the European Capital of Culture in 2010. One of the flagship projects within the application was a “European House of Justice.” At the same time a special initiative group was established to further pursue this idea, the construction of a building for holding discussions and disseminating information located on the grounds of the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) was under consideration. 

The first important step in this process was the German Bundestag’s approval of funds for a feasibility study in 2016, which was followed up by two specialist symposia in 2018 to examine both the substantive and architectural requirements. In the end, the results of all the preliminary studies formed the basis for the adoption of the founding law by the German Bundestag, which provided for the establishment not only of the location in Karlsruhe but also for a second location in Leipzig.

In 2018, the original initiative group in Karlsruhe gave rise to the Förderverein Forum Recht e.V. (Friends of the Forum Recht), which supports the development at both locations. You can find more information about the Förderverein Forum Recht e.V. here (in German).