Lycée Louis-le-Grand

2025-10-20T11:13:13Z

194.2.155.30: Undid revision 1317847574 by 194.2.155.30 (talk)

{{short description|Secondary school in Paris}}
{{redirect|Louis le Grand|the namesake king|Louis XIV}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox university
| name = Lycée Louis-le-Grand
| image = Logo_Lycée_Louis-le-Grand.png
| image_size = 240px
| caption =
| former_name = Collège de Clermont (1563–1682)
| type = local public Institution (EPLE)
| established = {{Start date and age|1563|10|01|df=y|br=y}}
| closed =
| superintendent =
| principal =
| head_label = Headmaster
| head = Joël Bianco
<ref>[http://www.sudouest.fr/2012/05/08/du-lycee-montaigne-a-louis-le-grand-709337-2780.php « Du lycée Montaigne à Louis-le-Grand »], ''Sud-Ouest'', 8 May 2012.</ref>
| faculty =
| enrollment =
| students = 1,818 students in 2009
| city = 123 rue Saint-Jacques, Paris
| state =
| country = France
| coor = {{coord|48.848056|2.344528|display=inline}}
| campus =
| free_label = Medium of instruction
| free = French
| colors =
| website = {{URL|www.louislegrand.fr}}
| footnotes =
}}

The '''Lycée Louis-le-Grand''' ({{IPA|fr|lise lwi lə gʁɑ̃}}), also referred to simply as '''Louis-le-Grand''' or by its acronym '''LLG''', is a public [[Lycée]] (French secondary school, also known as [[sixth form college]]) located on [[Rue Saint-Jacques (Paris)|rue Saint-Jacques]] in central [[Paris]].

It was founded in the early 1560s by the [[Jesuits]] as the '''Collège de Clermont''', was renamed in 1682 after King [[Louis XIV]] ("Louis the Great"), and has remained at the apex of France's secondary education system despite its disruption in 1762 following the [[suppression of the Society of Jesus]]. It offers both a high school curriculum and a ''[[Classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles|classes préparatoires]]'' post-secondary-level curriculum in the sciences, business and [[khâgne|humanities]].

==Location==
Louis-le-Grand is located in the heart of the {{Lang|fr|[[Quartier Latin]]|italic=no}}, the centuries-old student district of Paris. It is surrounded by other storied educational institutions: the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] to its west, across rue Saint-Jacques; the [[Collège de France]] to its north, across {{ill|rue du Cimetière-Saint-Benoist|fr}}; the Panthéon campus of [[Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University]] to its south, across [[rue Cujas]]; the former [[Collège Sainte-Barbe]] to its east, across {{ill|impasse Chartière|fr}}; and the [[Sainte-Geneviève Library]] to its southeast.

==History==

===Jesuit college (1560–1762)===
[[File:Détail du plan de Gomboust, 1652.jpg|thumb|400px|Collège de Clermont ("Iesuites") on the 1652 {{ill|Plan de Gomboust|fr}}, with the {{lang|fr|Collège de Marmoutiers}} to the left, the {{lang|fr|Collège du Mans}} above left, the {{lang|fr|Collège des Cholets}} above right, and the {{lang|fr|Collège du Plessis}} further left]]
[[File:J Jouvenet Alexandre et la famille de Darius.jpg|thumb|{{lang|fr|Alexandre et la famille de Darius}}, painting by Jean Jouvenet donated in 1674 by Louis XIV]]
[[File:Collège de Lisieux and Collège du Plessis, Turgot map of Paris.jpg|400px|thumb|Louis-le-Grand ("Col. des Jesuites", bottom center) on the 1739 [[Turgot map of Paris]]]]

Jesuit students, mostly from Spain and Italy, were present in Paris immediately after the [[Society of Jesus]]'s foundation, first in 1540 at the {{ill|Collège du Trésorier|fr}}<ref>{{cite conference |author=Marie-Madeleine Compère |title=Trésorier |book-title=Les collèges français 16e-18e siècle, Répertoire 3 – Paris |location=Paris |publisher=Institut national de recherche pédagogique |date=2002 |page=353 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/inrp_0000-0000_2002_ant_10_3_8044}}</ref> and from 1541 at the {{ill|Collège des Lombards|fr}}.<ref>{{cite conference |author=Marie-Madeleine Compère |title=Lombards |book-title=Les collèges français 16e-18e siècle, Répertoire 3 – Paris |location=Paris |publisher=Institut national de recherche pédagogique |date=2002 |page=219 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/inrp_0000-0000_2002_ant_10_3_8026}}</ref> From 1550 on, [[Guillaume Duprat]], the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont|bishop of Clermont]], who in the previous decade had met early Jesuit leaders {{ill|Claude Le Jay|fr}} and [[Diego Laynez]] and corresponded with [[Ignatius of Loyola]], invited Jesuit students to stay in his mansion, the {{lang|fr|Hôtel de Clermont}} on [[rue de la Harpe]]. The {{lang|fr|Hôtel de Clermont}} thus became the Jesuit order's first permanent home in Paris.<ref name=Bellessort/> It no longer exists following its annexation in the 17th century by the nearby {{ill|Collège d'Harcourt|fr}}, and stood on a location that is now part of the [[Lycée Saint-Louis]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Jacques Hillairet |title=Dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris |volume=II |publisher=Editions de Minuit |location=Paris |date=1963 |page=473}}</ref>

Upon his death on {{date|1560/10/23}}, Duprat bequested an endowment for a new Jesuit college in Paris, as well as funds for two other colleges in the vicinity of Clermont, at [[Billom]] at [[Mauriac, Cantal|Mauriac]]. The Parisian project was eagerly supported by Laynez, by then the Jesuits' [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus|Superior General]], who wanted it to become "the most celebrated college of the Society".{{R|Compere|page=370}} It was delayed, however, by dilatory initiatives by the [[Parlement of Paris]], [[University of Paris]], and local clergy, all of which opposed the Jesuits' establishment.<ref name=Compere>{{cite conference |author=Marie-Madeleine Compère |title=Collège jésuite |book-title=Les collèges français 16e-18e siècle, Répertoire 3 – Paris |location=Paris |publisher=Institut national de recherche pédagogique |date=2002 |pages=359–407 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/inrp_0000-0000_2002_ant_10_3_8046}}</ref>{{rp|359}} In July 1563, the Jesuits were finally able to purchase the former Parisian estate of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Langres|bishop of Langres]] on [[Rue Saint-Jacques (Paris)|rue Saint-Jacques]], where its current {{lang|fr|cour d'honneur}} now stands, and started teaching there in late 1563 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|Old Style]]). The new institution was named {{lang|fr|Collège 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.{{R|Compere|page=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 the [[University of Paris]].{{R|Compere|page=363}} In particular, its theology course, led from the 1564 inception by [[Juan Maldonado (Jesuit)|Juan Maldonado]], was so popular that the college's buildings were too small to contain the audience.{{R|Compere|page=362}} Other prominent early faculty included Pierre Perpinien, [[Juan de Mariana]], and [[Francisco Suárez]].{{R|Compere|page=370}}

The [[University 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 for [[Jansenism|Jansenists]].{{R|Compere|page=359}} In 1554, the university's [[College of Sorbonne]] had already issued a negative opinion regarding the opening of a college in Paris.<ref name=Motta>{{cite conference |title=Jesuit Theology, Politics, and Identity: The Generalate of Acquaviva and the Years of Formation |author=Franco Motta |book-title=The Acquaviva Project: Claudio Acquaviva's Generalate (1581–1615) and the Emergence of Modern Catholicism |editor1=Flavio Rurale |editor2=Pierre-Antoine Fabre |date=2017 |publisher=Institute of Jesuit Sources |location=Boston |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/302158239.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|351}} That opposition was temporarily overcome at the monarchy's initiative during the [[Colloquy of Poissy]] on {{date|1561/09/15}}, but the university kept debating the matter after the college started teaching in 1564. On {{date|1565/02/16}}, it refused to recognize it and thereby nullified the prior favorable decision of Poissy.{{R|Compere|page=360-362}} The multiple cases brought by the university before the court of the [[Parlement of Paris]], and counter-cases from the Jesuits, resulted in a stalemate that lasted over the next three decades: the {{lang|fr|Collège de Clermont}} was not readmitted into the university system, but the Jesuits were able to continue and expand their activities,{{R|Compere|page=363-364}} even though Maldonado was removed from Paris in 1575 following accusations of heresy by Sorbonne theologians.{{R|Motta|page=363}} While the courses were free of charge, [[Boarding school|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.{{R|Compere|page=366}} In the 1580s, the college's students numbered in the thousands, of which several hundreds were resident ({{lang|fr|pensionnaires}} and {{lang|fr|boursiers}}). The faculty included several dozen Jesuit priests.{{R|Compere|page=367}}

Unlike most colleges of the university, the Jesuit college remained open during the [[Siege of Paris (1590)|Siege of Paris]] in 1590, albeit with reduced activity, and inevitably colluded with the [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]], as did the university too.{{R|Compere|page=374}} On {{date|1594/12/27}}, an alumnus of the college, [[Jean Châtel]], attempted to assassinate [[Henry IV of France|King Henry IV]]. As a reaction, the king took the side of the Jesuits' longstanding accusers such as Parlement lawyer [[Antoine Arnauld (lawyer)|Antoine Arnauld]], and expelled the Jesuits from France, including those in Paris. In 1595, the [[bibliothèque 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.{{R|Compere|page=378}} They were allowed to retake the college building in 1606, and to fully restart their teaching in 1610. On {{date|1611/12/22}}, however, upon a new case brought by the university and in the changed political context resulting from Henry IV's assassination in May 1610 by [[François Ravaillac]], the [[Parlement of Paris]] forbade the Jesuits from teaching in Paris. That ruling, however, was reversed by a decision of [[Louis XIII]] on {{date|1618/02/15}}, 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.{{R|Compere|page=376}} Its adversaries made sure that it would still not obtain admission into the university,{{R|Compere|page=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.{{R|Compere|page=378}} The college was regularly bolstered by royal visits, including by Louis XIII in 1625 and [[Louis XIV]] in 1674. On the latter occasion, the king donated a painting by [[Jean Jouvenet]], ''Alexander and the family of Darius'', which remains to this day in the office of Louis-le-Grand's principal.<ref name=plaquette>{{citation |author=Paul Deheuvels |url=https://www.lyceemermozdakar.org/medias/mermoz/Plaquette_Louis-Le-Grand.pdf |title=Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris |date=2020 }}</ref>{{rp|8}}

Several notable scholars were resident in the college, including mathematician Pierre Bourdin (1595–1653), historian [[Philippe Labbe]] (1607–1667), or Latinist [[Charles de la Rue]] (1643–1725).{{R|Compere|page=387}} Other faculty included author [[René Rapin]] (1621–1687), scientist [[Ignace-Gaston Pardies]] (1636–1673), historian [[Claude Buffier]] (1661–1737), theologian [[René-Joseph de Tournemine]] (1661–1739), sinologist [[Jean-Baptiste Du Halde]] (1674–1743), rhetorician [[Charles Porée]] (1675–1741), and humanist [[Pierre Brumoy]] (1688–1742).<ref name=Bellessort/> Composer [[Marc-Antoine Charpentier]], who may have studied at the college,<ref>{{cite web |website=France Culture |title=Marc-Antoine Charpentier à Paris : des Jésuites à la consécration de la Sainte-Chapelle |date={{date|2018/04/06}} |url=https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/musicopolis/marc-antoine-charpentier-a-paris-en-1698-5-5-60180}}</ref> was its [[Kapellmeister|music master]] ({{lang|fr|maître de musique}}) between 1688 and 1698. The college library had about 40,000 volumes as of 1718,<ref name=Bellessort>{{citation |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Un_Coll%C3%A8ge_d%E2%80%99autrefois_-_Le_Vieux_Louis-le-Grand |author=André Bellessort |title=Un Collège d'autrefois – Le Vieux Louis-le-Grand |journal=Revue des Deux Mondes |volume=7:65 |date=1921 |pages=679–696 |location=Paris}}</ref> and included unique manuscripts such as the [[Chronicle of Fredegar]] (occasionally known for that reason as {{lang|la|Codex Claromontanus}}) or ''[[Anonymus Valesianus]]''. As in other Jesuit colleges, theatrical representations became increasingly prominent during the 17th century.{{R|Compere|page=391}} Also as in other colleges, in 1660 the Jesuits opened an [[observatory]], and in 1679 they created the elaborate [[sundial]]s, augmented in the 18th century, that survive to this day on the northern side of the {{lang|fr|cour d'honneur}} thanks to preservation campaigns in 1842 and 1988.{{R|plaquette|page=22}}<ref>{{cite web |website=Paris, Maman & Moi |url=http://parismamanetmoi.com/2017/05/02/lycee-louis-le-grand-cadrans-solaires/ |title=Lycée Louis-le-Grand : Les Cadrans Solaires |date={{date|2017/05/02}} |author=Sheily Parisienne}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |website=Shadows Pro |date=2015 |title=Les cadrans du Lycée Louis-le-Grand |author=François Blateyron |url=https://www.shadowspro.com/photos/paris/llgrand0.html}}</ref>

The college undertook a rebuilding campaign in 1628, on a design attributed to Paris municipal architect Augustin Guillain.<ref name=Dulaure>{{cite book |title=Histoire physique, civile et morale de Paris |author=Jacques-Antoine Dulaure |location=Paris |publisher=Furne et Cie |date=1837 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Anipr4v0pQ4C&q=college+de+clermont+reconstruction+1628 |page=355}}</ref> It expanded by acquiring more buildings, to its northeast from the recently closed {{ill|Collège de Marmoutiers|fr}} in 1641, and to its south from the {{ill|Collège des Cholets|fr}} in 1656 and 1660. In 1682, the college was able to expand further by acquiring the buildings of the {{ill|Collège du Mans|fr}} to its east, after a century of attempts, as that college's activities were relocated elsewhere in Paris.{{R|Compere|page=377-378}}

Also in 1682, [[Louis XIV]] formally authorized the college to change its name to {{lang|la|Collegium Ludovici Magni}} ({{langx|fr|Collège Louis-le-Grand}}). That act confirmed its royal patronage, despite the near-simultaneous [[Declaration of the Clergy of France]] and the kingdom's ongoing conflicts with the [[Papacy]], to which the Jesuits were directly tied by their vows. Already in 1674, during his visit, Louis was said to have remarked {{lang|fr|"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.<ref name=Dulaure/> (The anecdote was narrated by [[Gérard de Nerval]] in his short story {{lang|fr|Histoire de l’Abbé de Bucquoy}}, published in 1852 in the collection titled {{lang|fr|[[Les Illuminés]]}}.) The new inscription survived later turmoil, and was relocated on the eastern side of the {{lang|fr|cour d'honneur}} during the late-19th-century rebuilding.

In 1700, Louis-le-Grand took over the [[École des Jeunes de langues]], founded in 1669 by [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]], in line with the Jesuits' leadership in studying foreign languages and foreign cultures, reinforced since 1685 with the permanent [[Jesuit China missions|mission in China]] initiated by six Jesuits from Louis-le-Grand.{{R|Compere|page=387}} [[Antoine Galland]], the first Western European translator of ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'', had studied in this section and taught [[Arabic]] there from 1709.{{R|plaquette|page=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 via [[Macau]] together with Jesuit Father Foureau.<ref>{{cite web |date={{date|2014/05/25}} |title=Les Chinois de Turgot |author1=Me Nguyen |author2=Benoît Malbranque |website=Institute Coppet |url=https://www.institutcoppet.org/les-chinois-de-turgot/}}</ref>

===After 1762===
[[File:Collège Louis-le-Grand vers 1789.jpg|thumb|Entrance of the college in 1789, engraving by [[François-Nicolas Martinet]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reseau-canope.fr/musee/collections/fr/museum/mne/college-de-louis-le-grand-principale-cour-du-college-de-louis-le-grand-ouvert-en-1564-sous-le-nom-de-college-de-clermont-et-declare-en-1682-etre-de-fo/e243a63b-55d1-492d-90c8-7702d2ee0aff |title=College de Louis le Grand – Principale cour Du College de Louis le Grand |website=Les collections du Musée national de l'Éducation}}</ref>]]
[[File:Coats of arms Louis le Grand on book.jpg|thumb|Arms of Louis-le-Grand on a book binding highlighting its affiliation with the university during the [[July Monarchy]]]]
[[File:Lycée Louis-le-Grand - Paris - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APMH00024623.jpg|thumb|17th-century façade on rue Saint-Jacques shortly before demolition, early 1890s; the already finished northern section of the new façade is visible on the left]]

With the [[suppression of the Society of Jesus]] in France, the Jesuits were ordered to cease their teaching and leave the college on {{date|1762/05/03}}. The establishment was immediately nationalized and renamed {{lang|fr|Collège royal Louis-le-Grand}}. Teachers from the nearby {{ill|Collège de Lisieux|fr}} replaced the Jesuit fathers as faculty. This change triggered a broader reform of the [[University of Paris]]. The scholarship students ({{langx|fr|boursiers}}) of twenty-six smaller colleges of the University of Paris, known as the {{lang|fr|petits collèges}}, were invited to follow classes at Louis-le-Grand. By 1764, these students also boarded at Louis-le-Grand.{{R|Compere2|page=225}} By then, the {{lang|fr|petits 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 other {{lang|fr|grands collèges}} survived until 1792.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jacques Hillairet |title=Dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris |volume=I |publisher=Editions de Minuit |location=Paris |date=1963 |page=18}}</ref> The nearby buildings of the {{ill|Collège des Cholets|fr}}, one of the {{lang|fr|petits collèges}}, were purchased by the monarchy in 1770 and repurposed as headquarters ({{langx|fr|chef-lieu}}) of the University of Paris.<ref>{{cite conference |author=Marie-Madeleine Compère |title=Cholets |book-title=Les collèges français 16e-18e siècle, Répertoire 3 – Paris |location=Paris |publisher=Institut national de recherche pédagogique |date=2002 |page=141 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/inrp_0000-0000_2002_ant_10_3_8012}}</ref> Meanwhile, by 1764 the former faculty of the [[Collège de Beauvais]] took over teaching at Louis-le-Grand from those of the {{lang|fr|Collège de Lisieux}}.{{R|Compere2|page=225}} Between then and the [[French Revolution]], there were about 190 {{lang|fr|boursiers}} every year at Louis-le-Grand, and a smaller number of {{lang|fr|pensionnaires}} whose families paid for their boarding.<ref name=Compere2>{{cite conference |author=Marie-Madeleine Compère |title=Louis-le-Grand (1762–1794) |book-title=Les collèges français 16e-18e siècle, Répertoire 3 – Paris |location=Paris |publisher=Institut national de recherche pédagogique |date=2002 |pages=225–237 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/inrp_0000-0000_2002_ant_10_3_8027}}</ref>{{rp|227–228}}

As a broader consequence of the Jesuits' termination, the French state in 1766 initiated the [[Agrégation|Aggregation]] examination to raise the standards of teaching in secondary education.<ref>{{cite web |title=Les candidats aux trois concours pour l'agrégation de l'Université de Paris (1766–1791) |url=http://rhe.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/?q=agregar |website=Ressources numériques en histoire de l'éducation |date=June 2002 |author1=André Chervel |author2=Marie-Madeleine Compère}}</ref> Louis-le-Grand aspired to a leading position in supplying future {{lang|fr|agrégés}}. Its ambitions failed to materialize, however, as only nine of its {{lang|fr|boursiers}} succeeded in the {{lang|fr|Agrégation}} exams between 1766 and 1792, out of a total of 206 successful candidates during that period.{{R|Compere2|pages=229–230}}

During and after the [[French Revolution]], the college was renamed several times in response to France's changing politics: {{lang|fr|Collège Égalité}} in January 1793, {{lang|fr|Institut central des boursiers}} in 1797, {{lang|fr|Prytanée français}} in July 1798, {{lang|fr|Lycée de Paris}} in 1803, {{lang|fr|Lycée impérial}} in 1805,{{R|Compere2|page=230}} {{lang|fr|Lycée Louis-le-Grand}} in 1814, {{lang|fr|Collège royal de Louis le Grand}} in 1815, {{lang|fr|Collège royal Louis-le-Grand}} in 1831, {{lang|fr|Lycée Descartes}} in 1848, {{lang|fr|Lycée Louis-le-Grand}} in 1849, {{lang|fr|Lycée impérial Louis-le-Grand}} in 1853, again {{lang|fr|Lycée Descartes}} in 1870, and finally again {{lang|fr|Lycée Louis-le-Grand}} in 1873. It has kept that name ever since.{{R|plaquette|page=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.<ref name=MLC>{{citation |author=Marc Le Cœur |title=Le lycée Louis-le-Grand à Paris : chronique d'une reconstruction différée (1841–1881) |journal=Histoire de l'art |volume=23 |date=1993 |pages=67–80 |doi=10.3406/hista.1993.2568 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/hista_0992-2059_1993_num_23_1_2568}}</ref>{{rp|67}} In 1796, three more {{lang|fr|écoles centrales}} opened in Paris, respectively in the former [[Abbey of Saint Genevieve]] ({{lang|fr|école centrale du Panthéon}}, later [[Lycée Henri-IV]]), the [[Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis|Professed House of the Jesuits]] ({{lang|fr|école centrale de la rue Saint-Antoine}}, later [[Lycée Charlemagne]]), and the [[Collège des Quatre-Nations]] ({{lang|fr|école centrale des Quatre-Nations}}). The latter building, however, was repurposed in 1801 for artistic training, and its secondary school was relocated to the {{ill|Collège du Plessis|fr}} adjacent to Louis-le-Grand then known as the Prytanée ({{lang|fr|école centrale du Plessis}}), then merged into it in 1804. In 1803, Napoleon created the [[Lycée Condorcet]] in the former {{lang|fr|couvent des Capucins de la Chaussée d’Antin}}, and in 1820, another new {{lang|fr|lycée}} took the premises of the former {{ill|Collège d'Harcourt|fr}}, now the [[Lycée Saint-Louis]]. Louis-le-Grand was thus one of only five public {{lang|fr|lycées}} in Paris for most of the 19th century, until [[Jules Ferry]]'s reforms greatly expanded secondary education in the 1880s.<ref name=MLC2>{{citation |journal=Histoire de l'Éducation |title=Les lycées dans la ville: l'exemple parisien (1802–1914) |author=Marc Le Cœur |pages=131–167 |volume=90 |date=2001|issue=90 |doi=10.4000/histoire-education.835 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Bordering Louis-le-Grand to the north, some of the buildings of the former {{ill|Collège du Plessis|fr}} were partly used by the [[École normale supérieure (Paris)|École normale]] from 1810 to 1814 and again from 1826 to 1847, after which it moved to its present campus designed by architect [[Alphonse de Gisors]] on {{ill|rue 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,<ref name=MLC2/> but were demolished in 1833 as they had become derelict.{{R|MLC|page=67}} During the early [[French Second Republic|Second Republic]], an {{lang|fr|école d'Administration}} opened in July 1848 on the École Normale's former location, promoted by politician [[Hippolyte Carnot]], but it met overwhelming opposition and ceased operating after about six months.<ref>{{citation |title=L'École nationale d'administration de 1848–1849 : un échec révélateur |author=Vincent Wright |journal=Revue Historique |date=January–March 1976 |volume=255:1 |issue=1 (517) |pages=21–42 |publisher=Presses Universitaires de France |location=Paris |jstor=40952344 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40952344}}</ref> Louis-le-Grand eventually acquired the remaining Plessis buildings in May 1849<ref name=MLC2/> and tore them down in 1864.<ref name=Plessis>{{cite conference |author=Marie-Madeleine Compère |title=Plessis |book-title=Les collèges français 16e-18e siècle, Répertoire 3 – Paris |location=Paris |publisher=Institut national de recherche pédagogique |date=2002 |page=305 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/inrp_0000-0000_2002_ant_10_3_8034}}</ref> Meanwhile, in 1822, Louis-le-Grand had expanded southwards by taking over the former {{ill|Collège 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 the {{lang|fr|hôpital des incurables}} on {{ill|rue de Sèvres|fr}}, but that initiative was short-lived and the complex on rue de Sèvres was instead repurposed a decade later as {{ill|Hôpital Laennec|fr|Hôpital Laennec de Paris}}.<ref name=MLC/>

Eventually, Louis-le-Grand was almost entirely reconstructed between 1885 and 1898 on a design by architect {{ill|Charles 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 (now {{lang|fr|cour d'honneur}}) from the earlier college facilities. He created two vast courtyards to the north ({{lang|fr|Cour Molière}}) and south ({{lang|fr|Cour Victor-Hugo}}) of that central space, with multiple levels of classrooms connected by airy arcaded corridors.<ref name=MLC/> That rebuilding project took place the context of broader urban remodeling of the neighborhood around rue Saint-Jacques, also including the rebuilding of the [[Sorbonne (building)|Sorbonne]] (1884–1901, architect [[Henri Paul Nénot]]) and the extension of what is now the Panthéon campus of [[Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University]] (1891–1897, architect Ernest Lheureux).

During [[World War I]], the neighborhood was hit by [[Paris Gun]] shells, known to Parisians as {{lang|fr|la grosse Bertha}}. One shell tore through the ceiling of the main entrance hall on {{date|1918/03/24}},<ref>{{cite web |url=http://quotidien-parisiens-grande-guerre.paris.fr/grande-guerre/chapitre_bertha.php?vue=36 |website=Paris 1914–1918 |title=Une salle de classe du lycée Louis-le-Grand, rue Saint-Jacques, Paris 5e}}</ref> and another left a large hole in the pavement of rue Saint-Jacques in front of the {{lang|fr|lycée}}'s entrance on {{date|1918/05/27}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=En 1918, la "Grosse Bertha" et le "Canon 210" visent Paris |website=Association française des pélerins de Saint Jacques de Compostelle |url=https://ultreia.pagesperso-orange.fr/bertha.htm}}</ref> During [[World War II]], [[Jacques Lusseyran]] founded the resistance group [[Volontaires de la Liberté]], in which a number of his fellow Louis-le-Grand students participated.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museedelaresistanceenligne.org/media.php?media=1897&popin=true |title=Journal des Volontaires de la Liberté: ''Le Tigre'' |last=Hochard |first=Cécile |publisher=[[Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation à Besançon]] |access-date=10 March 2014}}</ref>

The last significant new building project was a new auditorium ({{langx|fr|salle des fêtes}}), located in the southeastern corner of the premises and completed in the late 1950s.{{R|plaquette|page=13}}

Louis-le-Grand had its share of [[May 68]] turmoil and subsequent violence between far-left and far-right student factions. On {{date|1968/05/18}}, it hosted the general assembly of the high-school students' action committees ({{ill|Comité d'action lycéen|fr}}) which called for a general strike. On {{date|1969/04/23}} [[Jean Tiberi]], a [[Gaullism|gaullist]] member of parliament who would later become the mayor of Paris, was assaulted during a visit of the {{lang|fr|lycée}}.<ref>{{citation |author=Didier Leschi |title=Mai 68 et le mouvement lycéen |journal=Matériaux pour l'histoire de notre temps |volume=11–13 |date=1988 |pages=260–264 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/mat_0769-3206_1988_num_11_1_403869}}</ref> A [[Grenade|hand grenade]] exploded inside its premises in early May 1969.<ref>{{cite web |title=1969 – L'escalade de la violence stoppée à Louis-le-Grand |website=L'Express |author=Ivan Levaï |date={{date|1969/05/12}} |url=https://www.lexpress.fr/education/1969-l-escalade-de-la-violence-stoppee-a-louis-le-grand_2072476.html}}</ref>

A collection of the school's old scientific instruments was curated from 1972 and is now managed autonomously as the {{lang|fr|Musée Scientifique du lycée Louis-le-Grand}}.{{R|plaquette|page=19-21}}

==Operations==

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 the {{lang|fr|classes préparatoires}}. Its boarding capacity is of 340 inside the building.<ref>{{cite web |website=Paris Balade |title=Le Lycée Louis Le Grand à Paris |url=https://www.parisbalade.fr/le-lycee-louis-le-grand-a-paris}}</ref>

Together with its longstanding rival the [[Lycée Henri-IV]], Louis-le-Grand has long been the only French {{lang|fr|lycée}} that is exempted from the scheme of location-based enrollment known as the {{ill|Carte scolaire|fr}},<ref>{{cite web |website=Groupe Réussite |title=Comment intégrer Louis le Grand et Henri IV en seconde |url=https://groupe-reussite.fr/blog/comment-integrer-louis-le-grand-et-henri-iv-en-seconde/}}</ref> even after the introduction in 2008 of the nationwide application known as {{ill|Affelnet|fr|SIECLE (logiciel)}}. This exemption has been criticized as a breach of territorial equality and a device for the self-perpetuation of French elites.<ref>{{cite book |title=Le Pacte immoral : Comment ils sacrifient l'éducation de nos enfants |author=Sophie Coignard |publisher=Albin Michel |location=Paris |date=2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |website=Le Monde |title=Affelnet : l'impossibilité de mener une réforme qui convienne à tout le monde |author=Mattea Battaglia |date={{date|2021/06/26}} |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2021/06/26/affelnet-l-impossibilite-de-mener-une-reforme-qui-convienne-a-tout-le-monde_6085814_3224.html}}</ref> It was decided to reform it in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |website=Le Monde |title=Les lycées Louis-le-Grand et Henri-IV ne recruteront plus leurs élèves parisiens sur dossier |date={{date|2022/01/22}} |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/education/article/2022/01/22/les-lycees-louis-le-grand-et-henri-iv-integrent-affelnet_6110506_1473685.html |author=Sylvie Lecherbonnier}}</ref>

==Notable alumni==
{{main|List of Lycée Louis-le-Grand people}}

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, scholar [[Jean-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 seven [[Nobel Prize]] laureates as alumni, second only to the [[Bronx High School of Science]] in [[New York City]], one [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]] and six [[Fields 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 Henri Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant|Paul d'Estournelles de Constant]] (Peace, 1909); [[Romain Rolland]] (Literature, 1915); [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] (Literature, 1964); [[Maurice Allais]] (Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 1988); and [[Serge Haroche]] (Physics, 2012).

Other notable alumni include:
* statesmen the [[André-Hercule de Fleury|Cardinal de Fleury]], the [[Étienne François, duc de Choiseul|Duc de Choiseul]],<ref>{{citation |url=https://excerpts.numilog.com/books/9782307551676.pdf |page=15 |author=Annie Brierre |title=Le Duc de Choiseul : La France sous Louis XV |publisher=Albatros |location=Paris |date=1986}}</ref> the [[François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis|Cardinal de Bernis]], the [[René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou|Chancelier de Maupeou]], [[Charles Carroll of Carrollton]], [[Maximilien Robespierre]], [[Camille Desmoulins]], [[Victor Schœlcher]], [[Jean Jaurès]], [[Édouard Herriot]], [[Edgard Pisani]], [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]], [[Jacques de Larosière]], [[Paul Biya]]; seven [[president of France|French presidents]] ([[Raymond Poincaré]], [[Paul Deschanel]], [[Alexandre Millerand]], [[Alain Poher]] acting, [[Georges Pompidou]], [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] and [[Jacques Chirac]]); and eight [[Prime Minister of France|Prime Ministers]] ([[Paul Painlevé]], [[Pierre Mendès France]], [[Michel Debré]], [[Maurice Couve de Murville]], [[Pierre Messmer]], [[Laurent Fabius]], [[Michel Rocard]], [[Alain Juppé]])
* scientists [[Évariste Galois]], [[Charles Hermite]], [[Henri Poincaré]], [[Jacques Hadamard]], [[Benoit Mandelbrot]], [[Laurent Schwartz]], [[Laurent Lafforgue]], [[Cédric Villani]], [[Hugo Duminil-Copin]]
* writers [[Molière]], [[Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bussy|Bussy-Rabutin]], the [[Marquis de Sade]], [[Victor Hugo]], [[Théophile Gautier]], [[Charles Baudelaire]], [[Paul Claudel]], [[Joseph Kessel]], [[Roland Barthes]], [[Aimé Césaire]]
* philosophers and social scientists [[Voltaire]], [[Denis Diderot]], [[Emile Durkheim]], [[Gaston Maspero]], [[Marc Bloch]], [[Julien Benda]], [[Georges Dumézil]], [[Jacques Derrida]], [[Jacques Le Goff]], [[Régis Debray]], [[Thomas Piketty]]
* artists [[Eugène Delacroix]], [[Théodore Géricault]], [[Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi]], [[Gustave Caillebotte]] (at the {{lang|fr|Petit Collège}} in Vanves), [[Edgar Degas]], [[Pierre Bonnard]], [[Georges Méliès]], [[Jean-Paul Belmondo]]
* business leaders [[André Citroën]], [[André Michelin]], [[Michel Pébereau]], [[Jean-Charles Naouri]], [[Frédéric Arnault]]
* military leaders [[Maxime Weygand]], [[Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves]]
* religious figures [[Francis de Sales]], [[Pierre de Bérulle]], the [[Jean François Paul de Gondi|Cardinal de Retz]], [[Dalil Boubakeur]]

==Offshoots==

===Gentilly estate (1638–1770)===
[[File:Gentilly AN propriété Jésuites - Copie.jpg|thumb|Map of the Jesuits' estate or {{lang|fr|maison de campagne}} in Gentilly, 18th century]]

The {{lang|fr|Collège de Clermont}} made a series of purchases in [[Gentilly, Val-de-Marne|Gentilly]] 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.<ref>{{citation |publisher=Société d'Histoire de Gentilly |title=Les Seigneurs de Gentilly du moyen-âge à la fin de l'ancien régime |author=Madeleine Fernandez |date=June 1988 |url=https://sa623ecff6f65215a.jimcontent.com/download/version/1481628139/module/11249688912/name/Les%20Seigneurs%20de%20Gentilly.pdf}}</ref> One of its buildings survives and has been repurposed in the 1990s as the [[Maison de la photographie Robert Doisneau]].

==={{lang|fr|Petit collège}} in Vanves (1853–1864)===

In 1798, Louis-le-Grand (then known as Prytanée) acquired the former grounds of the {{lang|fr|Château de [[Vanves]]}}. In the 1840s it initiated the project of establishing there an annex, known as the {{lang|fr|petit collège}}.<ref name=MLC2/> In 1853 this became the sole location of its {{lang|fr|petites classes}} or [[middle school]]. The facilities were expanded in 1858–1860 on a design by [[Joseph-Louis Duc]].{{R|MLC|page=70}} It became an independent establishment by imperial decree in August 1864, known since 1888 as the [[Lycée Michelet (Vanves)|Lycée Michelet]].

==={{lang|fr|Petit lycée}} on the Jardin du Luxembourg (1885–1891)===
[[File:Lycée Montaigne, 17 rue Auguste-Comte, Paris 6e 2.jpg|thumb|Former {{lang|fr|petit lycée Louis-le-Grand}}, now Lycée Montaigne]]

In 1882, a law awarded a former tree nursery ground of the [[Jardin du Luxembourg]] to Louis-le-Grand for the creation of new classrooms, in anticipation of the main building's reconstruction. The new {{lang|fr|{{ill|petit lycée|fr}}}}, also designed by {{ill|Charles Le Cœur|fr}}, opened in 1885 and became independent in August 1891 as the [[Lycée Montaigne (Paris)|Lycée Montaigne]].{{R|MLC|page=80}}

===Abu Dhabi Section (2008–2017)===
In September 2008, Louis-le-Grand and the [[Abu 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 in [[Abu 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://llgparis-abudhabi.org/images/PDF/Project_presentation.pdf |access-date=25 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160212194052/http://llgparis-abudhabi.org/images/PDF/Project_presentation.pdf |archive-date=12 February 2016 |title=LLG Paris – Abu Dhabi: Presentation of the Advanced Math & Science Pilot Class |author=Joël H. Vallat}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Lycee Louis-le-Grand.jpg|Front side on [[Rue Saint-Jacques, Paris|rue Saint-Jacques]]
File:Llgcourvictorhugo.jpg|''Cour Victor Hugo''
File:Victor Hugo courtyard, Lycée Louis-le-Grand (24-04-2007).jpg|''Cour Victor Hugo''
File:molierellg1.jpg|''Cour Molière''
File:Louis-le-Grand--cour-honneur.jpg|''Cour d'Honneur''
</gallery>

==See also==
{{stack|{{portal bar|Schools|Catholicism|France}}}}
* [[List of Lycée Louis-le-Grand people]]
* [[List of Jesuit sites]]
* [[College of Navarre]]
* [[Lycée Henri-IV]]
* [[Secondary education in France]]
* [[List of schools in France]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Lycée Louis-le-Grand}}
(These pages are in French)
* [http://www.louislegrand.org/ Lycée Louis-le-Grand] (official website)
* [http://www.fcpellg.fr/ Homepage of the parents' association FCPE]
* [http://peepllg.fr Homepage of the parents' association PEEP]

{{Lycées in Paris}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lycee Louis le Grand}}
[[Category:Lycée Louis-le-Grand| ]]
[[Category:1563 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in the 5th arrondissement of Paris]]
[[Category:Jesuit secondary schools in France]]
[[Category:Jesuit universities and colleges]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in the 1560s]]

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Lycée Louis-le-Grand