The Lycée Pierre-Corneille (; also known as the Lycée Corneille) is a state secondary school located in the city of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, France. Founded by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

in 1593, the school was

secularized In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

following the

1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and State (French language, French: ) was passed by the Chamber of Deputies (France), Chamber of Deputies on 3 July 1905. Enacted during the French Third Republic, Third Republic, it establishe ...

, and is today

non-religious Irreligion is the absence or rejection of religious beliefs or practices. It encompasses a wide range of viewpoints drawn from various philosophical and intellectual perspectives, including atheism, agnosticism, religious skepticism, ration ...

and governed by the French Ministry of Education. The school adopted the name of the playwright ''

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage ...

'' in 1873, and was classified as a

national heritage site A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage regis ...

in December 1985.

Origins

The

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

in the 16th century inspired the Archbishop of Rouen, Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, to create a school to educate the children of the

aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...

and

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

''in accordance with the purest doctrinal principles of

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

''. The opened in 1593, run by the

and known initially as the ''Collège de Bourbon''.Lycée Pierre Corneille de Rouen – History
/ref> From 1595 to 1604, teaching ceased because of Jesuit expulsions. Between 1614 and 1631, the gatehouse and chapel were built. By 1662, the lycée taught two thousand pupils. The chapel was opened in 1631, although the foundation stone was laid in 1614 by Marie de Médicis, the widow of King Henri IV of France. The chapel combines both late gothic and classical architectural styles in its 52-meter nave. It became a listed building in 1908. In 1762, the school became known as the ''Collège Royal'' after the Jesuits had been expelled from France. After the French Revolution, influenced by the ideas of the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...

, the school became associated with the 'Ecole Centrale'; the study of

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

was reduced in favour of a broader-based curriculum. After 1803 it became known as the 'Lycée Impérial' and taught humanities and mathematics following the principles and discipline of the

Napoleonic code The Napoleonic Code (), officially the Civil Code of the French (; simply referred to as ), is the French civil code established during the French Consulate in 1804 and still in force in France, although heavily and frequently amended since i ...

. Successful students were awarded the ''

Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

'' and subjects increased to include languages and Natural Sciences. The school then developed a two-year 'post baccalaureate' curriculum that enabled entry to the

Grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician * Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

. In 1873, the Lycée was renamed ' Lycée Pierre-Corneille' in honour of the alumnus, the 17th century writer and academic,

. At this time the ''petit lycée'' was added for younger pupils. In 1890, the sports club ''Les Francs Joueurs'' was founded. Since 1918 the school has run a Norwegian 'college' that houses typically twenty-four boys for three years each. This was developed as an international peace-building initiative after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 2018,

Queen Sonja of Norway Sonja (born Sonja Haraldsen; 4 July 1937) is Queen of Norway as the wife of King Harald V. Sonja and the then Crown Prince Harald had dated for nine years prior to their marriage in 1968. They had kept their relationship a secret due to the ...

visited the school to mark the centenary of the scheme, with

Brigitte Macron Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron (; Trogneux , previously Auzière ; born 13 April 1953) is a French former teacher and wife of Emmanuel Macron, the incumbent president of France. Early life Brigitte Macron was born Brigitte Marie-Claude Trogne ...

and Rolf Einar Fife. During

, it served as a military hospital. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was commandeered by the German army, and was then bombed in September 1942 and on April 19, 1944. Today it educates students in preparation for university and

.Lycée Pierre-Corneille de Rouen
/ref>

People

Alumni

* Jules Adeline, engraver *

Louis Anquetin Louis Émile Anquetin (26 January 1861 – 19 August 1932) was a French painting, painter. Biography Anquetin was born in Étrépagny, France, and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille (Rouen), Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen. In 1882 he cam ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

* Jean-Jacques Antier, journalist and writer * , painter * , businessman * Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre * Antoine Blondin, writer * , scientist * Pierre Bourguignon * Armand Carrel *

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (; November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687), was a 17th-century French explorer and North American fur trade, fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada ...

Claude Chappe Claude Chappe (; 25 December 1763 – 23 January 1805) was a French inventor who in 1792 demonstrated a practical semaphore line, semaphore system that eventually spanned all of France. His system consisted of a series of towers, each within l ...

* Patrick Chesnais, actor and director * , biologist *

, writer and academic * Thomas Corneille, writer and academic *

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in landscape painting, his vast output si ...

* * Michel Danino * * Patrick Dehornoy, mathematician *

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...

, painter * * scientist * * , journalist *

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

* Édouard Dujardin, writer * Pierre-Louis Dulong scientist * Pierre Dumont *

Marcel Dupré Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré (; 3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Early life and education Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré ...

, organist * Charles Féré, Doctor of medicine *

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...

, writer * Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, writer and academic * Henri Gadeau de Kerville, naturalist * , politician * Pierre Giffard, journalist, editor * , writer * Maurice Leblanc, writer *

Jean Lecanuet Jean Adrien François Lecanuet (4 March 1920 – 22 February 1993) was a French Centrism, centrist politician. Biography Lecanuet was born to a family of modest means in Rouen and gravitated towards philosophy studies. He received his diplo ...

, politician * , artist painter * André Marie, politician * Émile Masqueray, anthropologist and ethnologist * Guy de Maupassant, writer * André Maurois, writer * Jean-Luc Mélenchon, politician * , army officer * Théodore Monod * , journalist and writer *

Charles Nicolle Charles Jules Henri Nicolle (21 September 1866 – 28 February 1936) was a French bacteriologist who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his identification of lice as the transmitter of epidemic typhus. Family Nicolle was born to Aline Lo ...

, doctor physician * * ,

Film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Thomas Pesquet Thomas Gautier Pesquet (; born 27 February 1978) is a French aerospace engineer, aviator, pilot, European Space Agency astronaut, actor, musician, and writer. Pesquet was selected by ESA as a candidate in May 2009, and he successfully completed ...

, astronaut 2009 * Robert Antoine Pinchon, artist-painter * Jean Prévost * , President of UNEF * Torstein Raaby, Norwegian telegrapher, resistance fighter and explorer. * *

Jacques Rivette Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'Amour fo ...

, Director * Jean Rochefort, actor * Bertrand Serlet, engineer * , archeologist * Karin Viard, actress *

Jacques Villon Jacques Villon (July 31, 1875 – June 9, 1963), also known as Gaston Duchamp, was a French Cubist and Abstract art, abstract painter and printmaker. Early life Born Émile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp in Damville, Eure, Damville, Eure, ...

, artist * * Étienne Wolff * Rachid Yazami *

Teachers

* Théodore Bachelet (1847–1873) * Léon Brunschvicg (1895–1900) * (1878–1959) * (1934–1936) * (1937–?) *

Émile Chartier Émile-Auguste Chartier (; 3 March 1868 – 2 June 1951), commonly known as Alain (), was a French philosopher, journalist, essayist, pacifist, and teacher of philosophy. Early life and teaching Alain was born in 1868 in Normandy, in the rural ...

* * * (1964–1988) * Mongo Beti (1966–1994)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lycee Pierre-Corneille Education in Rouen Pierre-Corneille Pierre-Corneille Pierre-Corneille 1593 establishments in France

Origins

People

Alumni

Teachers

See also

References