Un « Port-Royal laïque » : l'école normale supérieure d'institutrices à Fontenay-aux-Roses

Abstract

"A 'secular Port-Royal' : the Ecole normale supérieure for schoolmistresses in Fontenay-aux- Roses", by Marc Le Cœur. Founded in 1880, the Ecole de Fontenay was long in one of the key positions in the System of primary éducation ; besides, it is also hère the French higher education opened up to women. Yet, despite its significant part, the institution did not find expression in monumental buildings : it was housed in some ancient buildings during the first years, subsequently by brick buildings looking like a comfortable middle-class house, opened out onto a vast park. Its facilities history was marked by the meeting of two Protestant personalities : the old pastor, Félix Pécaut, who was the "spirit" of the school, and the architect Charles Le Coeur. Year after year, after many plans were wrecked, the second one successfully made the new buildings convey the secular and feminist ideals the first one meant to inculcate in the young girls he was responsible for. Built on simple lines, the Ecole de Fontenay contrasted with the new Sorbonne, erected at the same time. Yet, both of them convey in their own way a certain idea of the Republic.