Historical overview

The Ecole des beaux-arts is made up of a vast, highly diversified complex of buildings. They are spread out over an area of more than 2 hectares between the rue Bonaparte and the quai Malaquais, and date from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, some even from the 20th.

The oldest part is the chapel together with the buildings related to it, all of which were put up at the beginning of the 17th century for the Petits-Augustins convent. During the French Revolution and the Empire, alterations were made to them by Alexandre Lenoir (1761-1839) to house the museum of French monuments, a collection made up of the most outstanding pieces of French sculpture. When the museum was closed in 1816, the buildings were given to the Ecole des beaux-arts.

New premises were commissioned from the architect François Debret (1777-1850). He built the Bâtiment des Loges, indispensable to the concours, and began the Palais des études. His pupil and brother-in-law Félix Duban (1797-1872) succeeded him and devoted the rest of his life to the site. He built the Palais des Etudes and the exhibition building (the Salle Melpomène et the Salle Foch) overlooking the quai Malaquais; he created the entrance courtyards on the rue Bonaparte side, and made suitable alterations to the chapel and the cloister (Cour du Mûrier) of the old convent.
Duban reused various architectural and decorative elements which had remained on the premises after the French momument museum closed down, thus giving a definite sense of unity to the site as a whole.

The last major development took place in 1883, when the State acquired the buildings adjacent to the Bâtiment des expositions: the hôtel de Chimay and its related outbuildings dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, situated at 15 and 17, quai Malaquais.