At the end of the Second World War, on the eve of the liberation of Brussels, the retreating German forces started a fire in the Palace of Justice in order to destroy it, as well as the legal records it contained. As a result, the cupola collapsed and part of the building was heavily damaged. In 1947, the restoration work was entrusted to the architect-engineer Albert Storrer. By 1948, most of the building was repaired, and the cupola was rebuilt higher than the original, whose somewhat flat shape had been criticised.