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Former name | Collège de Clermont (1563–1682) |
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| Type | local public Institution (EPLE) |
| Established | 1 October 1563; 462 years ago (1563-10-01) |
| Headmaster | Joël Bianco[1] |
| Students | 1,818 students in 2009 |
| Location | 123 rue Saint-Jacques, Paris ,France 48°50′53″N2°20′40″E / 48.848056°N 2.344528°E /48.848056; 2.344528 |
| Medium of instruction | French |
| Website | www |
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TheLycée Louis-le-Grand (French pronunciation:[liselwiləgʁɑ̃]), also referred to simply asLouis-le-Grand or by its acronymLLG, is a publicLycée (French secondary school, also known assixth form college) located onrue Saint-Jacques in centralParis.
It was founded in the early 1560s by theJesuits as theCollège de Clermont, was renamed in 1682 after KingLouis XIV ("Louis the Great"), and has remained at the apex of France's secondary education system despite its disruption in 1762 following thesuppression of the Society of Jesus. It offers both a high school curriculum and aclasses préparatoires post-secondary-level curriculum in the sciences, business andhumanities.
Louis-le-Grand is located in the heart of theQuartier Latin, the centuries-old student district of Paris. It is surrounded by other storied educational institutions: theSorbonne to its west, across rue Saint-Jacques; theCollège de France to its north, acrossrue du Cimetière-Saint-Benoist [fr]; the Panthéon campus ofParis 2 Panthéon-Assas University to its south, acrossrue Cujas; the formerCollège Sainte-Barbe to its east, acrossimpasse Chartière [fr]; and theSainte-Geneviève Library to its southeast.
Jesuit students, mostly from Spain and Italy, were present in Paris immediately after theSociety of Jesus's foundation, first in 1540 at theCollège du Trésorier [fr][2] and from 1541 at theCollège des Lombards [fr].[3] From 1550 on,Guillaume Duprat, thebishop of Clermont, who in the previous decade had met early Jesuit leadersClaude Le Jay [fr] andDiego Laynez and corresponded withIgnatius of Loyola, invited Jesuit students to stay in his mansion, theHôtel de Clermont onrue de la Harpe. TheHôtel de Clermont thus became the Jesuit order's first permanent home in Paris.[4] It no longer exists following its annexation in the 17th century by the nearbyCollège d'Harcourt [fr], and stood on a location that is now part of theLycée Saint-Louis.[5]
Upon his death on 23 October 1560, Duprat bequested an endowment for a new Jesuit college in Paris, as well as funds for two other colleges in the vicinity of Clermont, atBillom atMauriac. The Parisian project was eagerly supported by Laynez, by then the Jesuits'Superior General, who wanted it to become "the most celebrated college of the Society".[6]: 370 It was delayed, however, by dilatory initiatives by theParlement of Paris,University of Paris, and local clergy, all of which opposed the Jesuits' establishment.[6]: 359 In July 1563, the Jesuits were finally able to purchase the former Parisian estate of thebishop of Langres onrue Saint-Jacques, where its currentcour d'honneur now stands, and started teaching there in late 1563 (Old Style). The new institution was namedCollège de Clermont, in recognition of Duprat's support but also because one of the conditions that the Jesuits accepted to overcome local opposition was not to formally name the college after the Society of Jesus as they did elsewhere.[6]: 361
The college soon met considerable success, as it was both free and of high quality, disrupting the antiquated business models and longstanding conventions of theUniversity of Paris.[6]: 363 In particular, its theology course, led from the 1564 inception byJuan Maldonado, was so popular that the college's buildings were too small to contain the audience.[6]: 362 Other prominent early faculty included Pierre Perpinien,Juan de Mariana, andFrancisco Suárez.[6]: 370
TheUniversity of Paris had been hostile to the Jesuits from the start, in line with its general rejection of novel initiatives and long before that hostility took doctrinal undertones in the 17th and 18th centuries as the Jesuits became a key adversary forJansenists.[6]: 359 In 1554, the university'sCollege of Sorbonne had already issued a negative opinion regarding the opening of a college in Paris.[7]: 351 That opposition was temporarily overcome at the monarchy's initiative during theColloquy of Poissy on 15 September 1561, but the university kept debating the matter after the college started teaching in 1564. On 16 February 1565, it refused to recognize it and thereby nullified the prior favorable decision of Poissy.[6]: 360-362 The multiple cases brought by the university before the court of theParlement of Paris, and counter-cases from the Jesuits, resulted in a stalemate that lasted over the next three decades: theCollège de Clermont was not readmitted into the university system, but the Jesuits were able to continue and expand their activities,[6]: 363-364 even though Maldonado was removed from Paris in 1575 following accusations of heresy by Sorbonne theologians.[7]: 363 While the courses were free of charge,boarding costs for the resident students, who typically came from elite families, were covered by gifts and scholarships, and the corresponding accounts were kept separate until the Jesuits' departure in 1762.[6]: 366 In the 1580s, the college's students numbered in the thousands, of which several hundreds were resident (pensionnaires andboursiers). The faculty included several dozen Jesuit priests.[6]: 367
Unlike most colleges of the university, the Jesuit college remained open during theSiege of Paris in 1590, albeit with reduced activity, and inevitably colluded with theCatholic League, as did the university too.[6]: 374 On 27 December 1594, an alumnus of the college,Jean Châtel, attempted to assassinateKing Henry IV. As a reaction, the king took the side of the Jesuits' longstanding accusers such as Parlement lawyerAntoine Arnauld, and expelled the Jesuits from France, including those in Paris. In 1595, thebibliothèque du roi was relocated into the college's premises and stayed there until 1603. That year, Henry allowed the Jesuits to return to France on the conditions that they be French nationals.[6]: 378 They were allowed to retake the college building in 1606, and to fully restart their teaching in 1610. On 22 December 1611, however, upon a new case brought by the university and in the changed political context resulting from Henry IV's assassination in May 1610 byFrançois Ravaillac, theParlement of Paris forbade the Jesuits from teaching in Paris. That ruling, however, was reversed by a decision ofLouis XIII on 15 February 1618, allowing the Jesuits to resume teaching for good.
Despite its near-continuous interruption between 1595 and 1618, the College de Clermont almost immediately recovered and reached an equivalent level of activity to its heyday of the 1570s and 1580s.[6]: 376 Its adversaries made sure that it would still not obtain admission into the university,[6]: 379-380 but otherwise their attempts to undermine it met with decreasing success, given the continuing support the Jesuits were able to secure from the monarchy and high nobility.[6]: 378 The college was regularly bolstered by royal visits, including by Louis XIII in 1625 andLouis XIV in 1674. On the latter occasion, the king donated a painting byJean Jouvenet,Alexander and the family of Darius, which remains to this day in the office of Louis-le-Grand's principal.[8]: 8
Several notable scholars were resident in the college, including mathematician Pierre Bourdin (1595–1653), historianPhilippe Labbe (1607–1667), or LatinistCharles de la Rue (1643–1725).[6]: 387 Other faculty included authorRené Rapin (1621–1687), scientistIgnace-Gaston Pardies (1636–1673), historianClaude Buffier (1661–1737), theologianRené-Joseph de Tournemine (1661–1739), sinologistJean-Baptiste Du Halde (1674–1743), rhetoricianCharles Porée (1675–1741), and humanistPierre Brumoy (1688–1742).[4] ComposerMarc-Antoine Charpentier, who may have studied at the college,[9] was itsmusic master (maître de musique) between 1688 and 1698. The college library had about 40,000 volumes as of 1718,[4] and included unique manuscripts such as theChronicle of Fredegar (occasionally known for that reason asCodex Claromontanus) orAnonymus Valesianus. As in other Jesuit colleges, theatrical representations became increasingly prominent during the 17th century.[6]: 391 Also as in other colleges, in 1660 the Jesuits opened anobservatory, and in 1679 they created the elaboratesundials, augmented in the 18th century, that survive to this day on the northern side of thecour d'honneur thanks to preservation campaigns in 1842 and 1988.[8]: 22 [10][11]
The college undertook a rebuilding campaign in 1628, on a design attributed to Paris municipal architect Augustin Guillain.[12] It expanded by acquiring more buildings, to its northeast from the recently closedCollège de Marmoutiers [fr] in 1641, and to its south from theCollège des Cholets [fr] in 1656 and 1660. In 1682, the college was able to expand further by acquiring the buildings of theCollège du Mans [fr] to its east, after a century of attempts, as that college's activities were relocated elsewhere in Paris.[6]: 377-378
Also in 1682,Louis XIV formally authorized the college to change its name toCollegium Ludovici Magni (French:Collège Louis-le-Grand). That act confirmed its royal patronage, despite the near-simultaneousDeclaration of the Clergy of France and the kingdom's ongoing conflicts with thePapacy, to which the Jesuits were directly tied by their vows. Already in 1674, during his visit, Louis was said to have remarked"c'est mon collège" ("this is my college"). A black marble slab with the inscription COLLEGIVM LVDOVICI MAGNI (College of Louis the Great) was promptly placed on the façade, in substitution to the earlier text COLLEGIVM CLAROMONTANVM SOCIETATIS IESV, which triggered controversy.[12] (The anecdote was narrated byGérard de Nerval in his short storyHistoire de l’Abbé de Bucquoy, published in 1852 in the collection titledLes Illuminés.) The new inscription survived later turmoil, and was relocated on the eastern side of thecour d'honneur during the late-19th-century rebuilding.
In 1700, Louis-le-Grand took over theÉcole des Jeunes de langues, founded in 1669 byJean-Baptiste Colbert, in line with the Jesuits' leadership in studying foreign languages and foreign cultures, reinforced since 1685 with the permanentmission in China initiated by six Jesuits from Louis-le-Grand.[6]: 387 Antoine Galland, the first Western European translator ofOne Thousand and One Nights, had studied in this section and taughtArabic there from 1709.[8]: 11 In 1742 the college had five Chinese students: Paul Liu, Maur Cao, Thomas Liu, Philippe-Stanislas Kang, and Ignace-Xavier Lan, who had come from China viaMacau together with Jesuit Father Foureau.[13]
With thesuppression of the Society of Jesus in France, the Jesuits were ordered to cease their teaching and leave the college on 3 May 1762. The establishment was immediately nationalized and renamedCollège royal Louis-le-Grand. Teachers from the nearbyCollège de Lisieux [fr] replaced the Jesuit fathers as faculty. This change triggered a broader reform of theUniversity of Paris. The scholarship students (French:boursiers) of twenty-six smaller colleges of the University of Paris, known as thepetits collèges, were invited to follow classes at Louis-le-Grand. By 1764, these students also boarded at Louis-le-Grand.[15]: 225 By then, thepetits collèges effectively ceased autonomous activity, after which their property were gradually sold. Louis-le-Grand thus became the center of the university, even though ten othergrands collèges survived until 1792.[16] The nearby buildings of theCollège des Cholets [fr], one of thepetits collèges, were purchased by the monarchy in 1770 and repurposed as headquarters (French:chef-lieu) of the University of Paris.[17] Meanwhile, by 1764 the former faculty of theCollège de Beauvais took over teaching at Louis-le-Grand from those of theCollège de Lisieux.[15]: 225 Between then and theFrench Revolution, there were about 190boursiers every year at Louis-le-Grand, and a smaller number ofpensionnaires whose families paid for their boarding.[15]: 227–228
As a broader consequence of the Jesuits' termination, the French state in 1766 initiated theAggregation examination to raise the standards of teaching in secondary education.[18] Louis-le-Grand aspired to a leading position in supplying futureagrégés. Its ambitions failed to materialize, however, as only nine of itsboursiers succeeded in theAgrégation exams between 1766 and 1792, out of a total of 206 successful candidates during that period.[15]: 229–230
During and after theFrench Revolution, the college was renamed several times in response to France's changing politics:Collège Égalité in January 1793,Institut central des boursiers in 1797,Prytanée français in July 1798,Lycée de Paris in 1803,Lycée impérial in 1805,[15]: 230 Lycée Louis-le-Grand in 1814,Collège royal de Louis le Grand in 1815,Collège royal Louis-le-Grand in 1831,Lycée Descartes in 1848,Lycée Louis-le-Grand in 1849,Lycée impérial Louis-le-Grand in 1853, againLycée Descartes in 1870, and finally againLycée Louis-le-Grand in 1873. It has kept that name ever since.[8]: 12
Throughout the troubled 1790s, it was the only Parisian educational institution that remained continuously open, as it had been during the 1590s siege of Paris. Part of its premises, however, were used as barracks for soldiers, then as political prison and workshops.[19]: 67 In 1796, three moreécoles centrales opened in Paris, respectively in the formerAbbey of Saint Genevieve (école centrale du Panthéon, laterLycée Henri-IV), theProfessed House of the Jesuits (école centrale de la rue Saint-Antoine, laterLycée Charlemagne), and theCollège des Quatre-Nations (école centrale des Quatre-Nations). The latter building, however, was repurposed in 1801 for artistic training, and its secondary school was relocated to theCollège du Plessis [fr] adjacent to Louis-le-Grand then known as the Prytanée (école centrale du Plessis), then merged into it in 1804. In 1803, Napoleon created theLycée Condorcet in the formercouvent des Capucins de la Chaussée d’Antin, and in 1820, another newlycée took the premises of the formerCollège d'Harcourt [fr], now theLycée Saint-Louis. Louis-le-Grand was thus one of only five publiclycées in Paris for most of the 19th century, untilJules Ferry's reforms greatly expanded secondary education in the 1880s.[20]
Bordering Louis-le-Grand to the north, some of the buildings of the formerCollège du Plessis [fr] were partly used by theÉcole normale from 1810 to 1814 and again from 1826 to 1847, after which it moved to its present campus designed by architectAlphonse de Gisors onrue d'Ulm [fr]. Others parts of the Plessis complex were temporarily awarded to the Paris University's Faculty of Letters and a section of the Faculty of Law,[20] but were demolished in 1833 as they had become derelict.[19]: 67 During the earlySecond Republic, anécole d'Administration opened in July 1848 on the École Normale's former location, promoted by politicianHippolyte Carnot, but it met overwhelming opposition and ceased operating after about six months.[21] Louis-le-Grand eventually acquired the remaining Plessis buildings in May 1849[20] and tore them down in 1864.[22] Meanwhile, in 1822, Louis-le-Grand had expanded southwards by taking over the formerCollège des Cholets [fr] from the university. Louis-le-Grand's main buildings themselves were in an increasingly dilapidated state, implying danger for the students. From the 1840s onwards multiple attempts were made to start their reconstructions, but faltered for several decades. In the mid-1860s,Georges-Eugène Haussmann promoted a project to move Louis-le-Grand to the premises of thehôpital des incurables onrue de Sèvres [fr], but that initiative was short-lived and the complex on rue de Sèvres was instead repurposed a decade later asHôpital Laennec [fr].[19]
Eventually, Louis-le-Grand was almost entirely reconstructed between 1885 and 1898 on a design by architectCharles Le Cœur [fr], on a complex schedule so that teaching activities could continue during the works, and at a record high cost. Le Coeur's design only preserved the northern and southern sides of the inner court (nowcour d'honneur) from the earlier college facilities. He created two vast courtyards to the north (Cour Molière) and south (Cour Victor-Hugo) of that central space, with multiple levels of classrooms connected by airy arcaded corridors.[19] That rebuilding project took place the context of broader urban remodeling of the neighborhood around rue Saint-Jacques, also including the rebuilding of theSorbonne (1884–1901, architectHenri Paul Nénot) and the extension of what is now the Panthéon campus ofParis 2 Panthéon-Assas University (1891–1897, architect Ernest Lheureux).
DuringWorld War I, the neighborhood was hit byParis Gun shells, known to Parisians asla grosse Bertha. One shell tore through the ceiling of the main entrance hall on 24 March 1918,[23] and another left a large hole in the pavement of rue Saint-Jacques in front of thelycée's entrance on 27 May 1918.[24] DuringWorld War II,Jacques Lusseyran founded the resistance groupVolontaires de la Liberté, in which a number of his fellow Louis-le-Grand students participated.[25]
The last significant new building project was a new auditorium (French:salle des fêtes), located in the southeastern corner of the premises and completed in the late 1950s.[8]: 13
Louis-le-Grand had its share ofMay 68 turmoil and subsequent violence between far-left and far-right student factions. On 18 May 1968, it hosted the general assembly of the high-school students' action committees (Comité d'action lycéen [fr]) which called for a general strike. On 23 April 1969Jean Tiberi, agaullist member of parliament who would later become the mayor of Paris, was assaulted during a visit of thelycée.[26] Ahand grenade exploded inside its premises in early May 1969.[27]
A collection of the school's old scientific instruments was curated from 1972 and is now managed autonomously as theMusée Scientifique du lycée Louis-le-Grand.[8]: 19-21
Louis-le-Grand has about 1,800 students, nearly a tenth of which are non-French from more than 40 countries. About half of these are enrolled in high school, and the other half in theclasses préparatoires. Its boarding capacity is of 340 inside the building.[28]
Together with its longstanding rival theLycée Henri-IV, Louis-le-Grand has long been the only Frenchlycée that is exempted from the scheme of location-based enrollment known as theCarte scolaire [fr],[29] even after the introduction in 2008 of the nationwide application known asAffelnet [fr]. This exemption has been criticized as a breach of territorial equality and a device for the self-perpetuation of French elites.[30][31] It was decided to reform it in 2022.[32]
Louis-le-Grand has long been considered to play an important role in the education of French elites. In 1762, just before the college's nationalization, scholarJean-Baptiste-Jacques Élie de Beaumont wrote: "The Jesuit College of Paris has for a long time been a state nursery, the most fertile in great men." Many of its former students have become influential statesmen, diplomats, prelates, writers, artists, intellectuals and scientists.
It counts sevenNobel Prize laureates as alumni, second only to theBronx High School of Science inNew York City, oneNobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and sixFields Medal winners. The Louis-le-Grand alumni laureates are, by chronological order of prize-winning:Frédéric Passy (Peace, 1901);Henri Becquerel (Physics, 1903);Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (Medicine, 1907);Paul d'Estournelles de Constant (Peace, 1909);Romain Rolland (Literature, 1915);Jean-Paul Sartre (Literature, 1964);Maurice Allais (Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 1988); andSerge Haroche (Physics, 2012).
Other notable alumni include:
TheCollège de Clermont made a series of purchases inGentilly to establish a rural retreat there, in 1632, 1638, 1640 and 1659, thus forming a major property that was eventually sold after the order's suppression in the early 1770s.[34] One of its buildings survives and has been repurposed in the 1990s as theMaison de la photographie Robert Doisneau.
In 1798, Louis-le-Grand (then known as Prytanée) acquired the former grounds of theChâteau deVanves. In the 1840s it initiated the project of establishing there an annex, known as thepetit collège.[20] In 1853 this became the sole location of itspetites classes ormiddle school. The facilities were expanded in 1858–1860 on a design byJoseph-Louis Duc.[19]: 70 It became an independent establishment by imperial decree in August 1864, known since 1888 as theLycée Michelet.
In 1882, a law awarded a former tree nursery ground of theJardin du Luxembourg to Louis-le-Grand for the creation of new classrooms, in anticipation of the main building's reconstruction. The newpetit lycée [fr], also designed byCharles Le Cœur [fr], opened in 1885 and became independent in August 1891 as theLycée Montaigne.[19]: 80
In September 2008, Louis-le-Grand and theAbu Dhabi Education Council launched the Advanced Math and Science Pilot Class, with one class of 20 girls and another of 20 boys. Classes were taught in English inAbu Dhabi, by professors sent from France. The students who made up the Advanced Math and Science Pilot Class graduated at the end of the 12th grade and were awarded a certificate of academic recognition by Louis-le-Grand. The final cohort of the program graduated in 2017, marking the end of the program.[35]
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