École Militaire

Founded in 1750 by King Louis XV, the École Militaire (French: [ekɔl militɛʁ]; "military school") is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars.

For the Belgian institution known as the École royale militaire, see Royal Military Academy (Belgium).
École Militaire
Central École Militaire building
General information
TypeEducational building complex,
Address1 Place de Joffre, 75007
Town or cityParis, Île-de-France
CountryFrance
Coordinates48°51′09″N 2°18′13″E
Current tenantsMilitary academy
Completed1750 (1750)
Design and construction
ArchitectAnge-Jacques Gabriel
Website
geostrategia.fr

The building, constructed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, is an active military academy and is classified as a national monument since 1990.[1] This site can be visited during the European Heritage Days.

History

Origins of the institution

L'École Militaire was founded in 1750, after the War of the Austrian Succession, by Louis XV on the basis of a proposal of Marshal Maurice de Saxe and with the support of Madame de Pompadour and financier Joseph Paris Duverney.

Previously, military academies were exclusive to children of a noble background and offered apprenticeships in the King's Stables or the stables of other royal members. With the aim of creating an academic college for cadet officers from poor noble families, the exclusivity that royal military academies held vanished.

By the edict of January 1751, King Louis XV founded the institution intended for the education of five hundred noble young men and born without fortune. Article XI of the edict provides for "by way of first perpetual endowment" the tax on playing cards. The administration is entrusted to the Secretary of State for War. The Royal Military Academy included a number of military colleges in the province such as the School of Brienne where students were admitted on evidence of nobility. At the end of their schooling, admission to the Royal Military School in Paris was done through a national competition.

Architecture and Ange-Jacques Gabriel

Enlisted by the King to design a more grandiose building than the Hôtel des Invalides (constructed by Louis XIV), Ange-Jacques Gabriel began construction in 1752 on the grounds of the farm of Grenelle. After a long period of construction, the school did not open until 1760. Gabriel presented an immense area with beautiful façades and running water through a system of wells and pipes. It was indeed much larger, and striking than the Invalides.[2]

The Comte de Saint-Germain reorganised the establishment in 1777 under the name of the École des Cadets-gentilshommes (School of Young Gentlemen), of which accepted the young Napoleon Bonaparte in 1784. Bonaparte went on to graduate after only one year instead of two.

It now hosts:

The vast complex formed by the École militaire.
  • École Militaire from the Place de Fontenoy
  • St Louis Chapel at the École Militaire
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References
  1. Ministère de la Culture (France) et la Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine (1992). "École Militaire". Ministère de la Culture (France). Retrieved 2019-04-15.
  2. Christ, Yvan (1977). Paris des Utopies. Paris: Balland. pp. 92 and 93.
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