Courtroom 600: Time Travel
At the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, Courtroom 600: Time Travel transforms the original venue of the Nuremberg Trials into an immersive media installation. The work reanimates the room where leading figures of the National Socialist regime were tried from 1945 onwards, allowing visitors to experience the origins of modern international criminal law in situ.
Tamschick Media + Space turned Courtroom 600 into a virtual time capsule, fusing archival material and spatial design into a precise, respectful reconstruction.
Layering 1945 over today
The scenography turns the courtroom into a layered audiovisual environment. Two semi-transparent projection surfaces frame the space, creating a spatial illusion in which past and present overlay one another. Archival film and photographic material from the Memorium’s collection form the visual core, synchronized with a carefully scripted light design and soundscape that evoke the atmosphere of the trials.
A meticulous 3D reconstruction restores the 1945 courtroom to scale, including judges, prosecutors, and defendants. By adopting historically grounded camera positions and visual angles, the installation recreates how the proceedings were originally seen and recorded, while aligning these perspectives with the current physical space.
Taking a seat inside history’s verdict
The installation unfolds as a self-running sequence of image, sound, and light. Visitors take their seats in the original courtroom and witness historic scenes reappear around them: voices, camera flashes, and the choreography of the trial return to the room.
The space becomes a living witness that links historical justice to present-day values. Visitors experience the Nuremberg Trials as an important chapter in history, laying the foundation of principles that continue to shape international law and human rights discourse today.
Letting justice speak in its own room
Respecting an active symbol of international justice, the task was to make the significance of the Nuremberg Trials tangible for today’s audiences while preserving the authenticity and dignity of the courtroom.
The installation needed to translate extensive archival footage, photographs, and legal records into a condensed spatial experience. It had to convey the gravity of the proceedings and their legal legacy without turning the space into a conventional exhibition or theatrical staging.
Courtroom 600: Time Travel strengthens the role of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice as a site of learning and reflection on international justice. The installation creates an immediate connection between visitors and the historic proceedings, deepening understanding of how legal frameworks for crimes against humanity emerged from this room.
By turning testimony, archival images, and legal history into a shared spatial experience, the project offers a model for how media scenography can support remembrance culture in highly sensitive historic environments.
The project won an ADC Silver Award with a recognition from ADC Jury: "With the media installation in Courtroom 600, the past is brought to life and by linking real space and media set pieces from the past. The history is displayed uniquely that would otherwise not be possible in such an impressive way."
Project Highlights
- Immersive media environment installed within the original Courtroom 600 without altering its architectural substance
- Semi-transparent projection layers that allow archival imagery to coexist with the real courtroom in a single visual field
- Full 3D courtroom reconstruction aligned to the existing space, based on historic documentation and visual evidence
- Automated show control synchronizing projection, light, and sound for reliable daily operation in a sensitive heritage context
Facts & Figures
Archival content and historical expertise: Memorium Nuremberg Trials
Concept collaboration: Büro Müller-Rieger, Munich
Media technology: MATEC GmbH
Awards
