Former Lycée Carnot, currently Faculty of Arts

State ownership

Museums of France

Miscellaneous

Photo de Former Lycée Carnot, currently Faculty of Arts

Crédit photo : LPLT - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Temps modernes

Révolution/Empire

XIXe siècle

Époque contemporaine

1800

1900

2000

1777-1780

Construction of 1st hospital

1843

Destructive earthquake

1844-1856

Reconstruction of the hospital

1882

Assignment to the colony

1883

Opening of the high school

1895

Named High School Carnot

15 janvier 1979

Registration MH

Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The facades and roofs of the three pavilions on Rue Henri IV; the staircase; the court; the facades and roofs of the U-shaped building (see Box AI 54): entry by order of 15 January 1979

Key figures

Alexandre Isaac - Local politician	Initiator of the high school project.
Sadi Carnot - President of the Republic	The eponymous of high school after 1895.
Ingénieur Henriet - Head of Work	Post-earthquake reconstruction (1844-1856).
Ingénieur Philibert - Initial expansions	Works under the Empire/Restauration.

Origin and history

The site of the former Carnot High School, located on an aerated morne of Pointe-à-Pitre, originally housed a military hospital built in the 18th century. Destroyed by the earthquake of 1843, it was rebuilt between 1844 and 1856 under the direction of engineer Henriet, with a building in U, outbuildings, a chapel and a covered gallery. The work, interrupted between 1847 and 1851, resumed to complete the wings and the entrance pavilions on rue Henri-IV.

Following the departure of the garrison in 1882, the state transferred the hospital to the General Council, which transformed it into a high school in 1883 under the leadership of Alexander Isaac. Renamed high school Carnot in 1895 in tribute to President Sadi Carnot, he became the first high school in Pointe-à-Pitre. Its facades, roofs and architectural elements (scenes, courtyard, gallery with cast iron columns) were listed as historical monuments in 1979.

The architecture preserves traces of its original hospital vocation, such as the entrance pavilions, the monumental staircase and the U-shaped building with its double columned gallery. The outbuildings disappeared after his conversion to high school, but the central body, wings and chapel (added around 1862) testify to successive enlargements under the Empire and the Restoration. Today, the site houses the faculty of letters, perpetuating its educational function.