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Origin and history

The Faculty of Law and Political Science of Aix-Marseille came into being in 1409, when Count Louis II of Anjou obtained from Pope Alexander V the creation of a university in Aix-en-Provence, originally dedicated to theology and law. From its foundation, law occupied a central place there until the Revolution. However, its beginnings were difficult in the 15th century, as students preferred the oldest and renowned Avignon faculty. To counter this, Louis III imposed a fine on students from the counties of Provence and Forcalquier to attend Aix.

In the 16th century, the faculty, then located in the Bourg Saint-Sauveur district (now Gaston de Saporta Street), suffered a partial fire during the Italian wars. Despite this, his prestige grew with the creation of the Parliament of Provence, attracting more law students. Under the Old Regime, she remained conservative, still teaching in Latin and was slow to adopt the ideas of the Enlightenment. Teaching was interrupted during the Revolution, with the abolition of the Old Regime universities, but resumed in 1806.

In 1933, a project of new faculties was launched, initially entrusted to architect Jean Boët, who proposed a boulevard du Roi René site. In 1936, the municipality chose a new location, the current 3 avenue Robert Schuman. After Boët's death in 1947, René Egger and Fernand Pouillon took over the project. Pouillon, although later criticising his work as a "monstrous imitation of the Medici villa", finished the building in 1955. The latter, labeled Heritage of the 20th century in 2006, combines Italian Renaissance and 1930s style.

The building originally housed the faculties of law and letters, as evidenced by the frontons of the entrance doors and works of art, such as Ram Rischmann's mosaic La Source (1953) in the patio. The Schuman library, designed to link the two disciplines, embodies this duality. Today, the Faculty of Law, led since 2022 by Dean Jean-Baptiste Perrier, remains a symbol of Aix's university heritage.

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