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Key figures

Origin and history

The convent of the Petits Augustins, located in Paris on the left bank of the Seine, was founded in the early seventeenth century for a community of Reformed Augustine monks. The Hexagonal chapel, known as "the praises", was offered by Queen Margot, the last wife of Henry IV, who bequeathed part of her palace and gardens. The work of the convent began in 1619, and the adjacent street later took the name of " rue des Petits-Augustins". At the Revolution, the monks were expropriated, and as early as 1795 the museum of the French Monuments, created by Alexandre Lenoir to preserve threatened works, such as the tombs of the kings of France.

In 1816 Louis XVIII ordered the closure of the museum and assigned the buildings to the École des beaux-arts, which was officially founded in 1817. The architect François Debret, then his pupil Félix Duban, transformed the premises by integrating architectural elements saved from the museum, such as fragments of the castles of Anet and Gaillon. The chapel and cloister (cour du mulberry) were preserved, while the Palais des Études and the exhibition halls (Melpomene, Foch) were built. Duban used disparate sets, giving a stylistic unit to the ensemble, although his work was partially altered in the 20th century.

The convent thus became the heart of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (ENSBA), heir to the royal academies of painting and sculpture (founded in 1648 and 1649). His collections, enriched since the 19th century, now number almost 450,000 works, including paintings by Poussin, David or Ingres, and medieval sculptures. Ranked a historic monument on several occasions (1914, 1921, 1972), the site mixes religious remains, revolutionary re-uses and modern extensions, such as the workshops designed by Auguste Perret after 1945.

The history of the place also reflects the social evolution of art: women were gradually admitted from 1897, under pressure from the Union of Women Painters and Sculptors founded by Hélène Bertaux. The convent, transformed into a symbol of French artistic teaching, has attracted students from all over the world for two centuries. Its walls saw major reforms, such as the separation of the architecture of fine arts in 1968, or the creation of the Stratis Andréadis media library in 1994 to modernize access to resources.

Today, the ENSBA retains traces of its monastic past (chapel, courtyard of the mulberry tree) and its revolutionary role (museum of the French Monuments), while providing a contemporary teaching. The buildings, protected and restored, illustrate the superposition of the epochs: from the seventeenth century (augustinian foundation) to the twenty-first (renovations and digital). The site remains a living place, where exhibitions, training and research perpetuate its legacy between memory and innovation.

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