The École royale du génie de Mézières (Royal Engineering School of Mézières) was a military engineering school in what is now

Charleville-Mézières Charleville-Mézières () is a commune of northern France and the prefecture of the Ardennes department, in the Grand Est region. Charleville-Mézières is located on the banks of the river Meuse. History Charleville and Mézières were ori ...

, France. It was founded in 1748 on proposal of the comte d'Argenson, then Secretary of state for War, and Brigadier Nicolas de Chastillon, commander of the citadel at

, with the aim of modernizing the town's fortifications. It trained a total of 542 military engineers until its merging with the École d'Application de l'Artillerie de Metz during the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...

. Since 1800 its buildings have housed the Hôtel du Département des Ardennes, which manages the

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

department.

Building

It was housed in the palais des Tournelles, the residence for the governor of Mézières.

Philip III of Burgundy Philip III the Good (; ; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) ruled as Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, ...

built the first palais des Tournelles in 1409, which was rebuilt by Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers in 1566.

Henry III of France Henry III (; ; ; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575. As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he ...

lodged at the palais in 1583 and after being largely destroyed by fire in 1697 it was again rebuilt in 1732. The school moved in 1753 and was promoted to a royal school on 31 December 1776. The present building was built between 1780 and 1789. In October 1791 its students met La Fayette. It was transferred to

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

in 1793 before being suppressed the following year.

External links

History of the école du génie

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole Royale Genie Mezieres Military academies of France Military training establishments of France Buildings and structures in Ardennes (department)