Ancien collège des Jésuites, dénommé collège Sainte-Marie, devenu lycée de garçons, actuellement école nationale supérieure d'Art
MonumentHidden Treasure
Ancien collège des Jésuites, dénommé collège Sainte-Marie, devenu lycée de garçons, actuellement école nationale supérieure d'Art, located in Bourges (Cher), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Bourges, Cher, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.0859, 2.3950
- Mérimée Reference
- PA18000025
A 17th-century Jesuit gem in Bourges, this former college blends Baroque simplicity with Napoleonic columns featuring palm-shaped capitals — an architectural epic spanning four centuries in the heart of the Berry region.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
As you stroll through the old streets of Bourges, the former Jesuit college - which over the centuries became the imperial lycée and then the École nationale supérieure d'Art - stands out as one of the most unique monumental ensembles in the Centre-Val de Loire region. Nestling in the dense urban fabric of the city of Berry, it features a succession of courtyards, wings and gardens whose architectural coherence defies the eras that have shaped it. What makes this building truly unique is the legible superimposition of its historical layers. The eastern part of the building, built in 1634 to designs by Father Étienne Martellange - the leading architect of the Society of Jesus in France - expresses the austere rigour and rational order so dear to the Jesuits: regular windows, measured elevations, local cut stone with ochre highlights. Then, like an exotic interlude, comes the building erected in 1803-1804 for the Lycée Impérial, whose columns with palm-shaped capitals unambiguously evoke the post-revolutionary fascination with Bonaparte's Egypt. A visit here is like travelling through four centuries of French educational history. The former Notre-Dame-la-Comtale chapel, which separated the two courtyards of the Jesuit college, is a reminder of the central role played by faith in education under the Ancien Régime. The galleries, cobbled courtyards and green spaces invite you to take a contemplative stroll, between monastic calm and creative effervescence - as the art school that now occupies the premises breathes new vitality into these centuries-old stones. The overall setting is that of a preserved medieval and Renaissance Bourges, just a few hundred metres from Saint-Etienne's Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The complex has been listed as a Historic Monument since 2004, guaranteeing the preservation of this exceptional example of French Jesuit architecture and national educational history.
Architecture
The architectural ensemble of the former Jesuit college follows a plan typical of the Jesuits' establishments: two distinct courtyards separated by the Notre-Dame-la-Comtale chapel, flanked by regular wings and opening onto a garden at the rear. This rigorous spatial organisation, inherited from conventual typologies but rationalised according to Jesuit principles, favours the separation of functions - teaching, residence, prayer - while maintaining an overall coherence that is legible from the street. The buildings dating from the second quarter of the 17th century, designed by Father Étienne Martellange, are a perfect illustration of the French Jesuit style: sober ashlar facades, regular rhythm of mullioned or small-wooded windows, steeply pitched slate roofs, discreet use of pilasters and cornices to structure the elevations without excessive decorative ostentation. This architectural restraint, far from poverty, reflects a deliberate aesthetic that values order, clarity and functionality in the service of education and prayer. The most unusual part of the complex is the Napoleonic building dating from 1803-1804, whose columns with palm-shaped capitals are a rare example of Egyptomania in French provincial architecture. These capitals, imitating the palmette or the stylised lotus, borrowed directly from the decorative repertoire of ancient Egypt rediscovered by the scientists on Bonaparte's expedition, contrast with the surrounding Jesuit sobriety and give the building its most spectacular touch. The 1865 building that closes off the courtyard to the west adopts a Second Empire academic vocabulary, discreetly integrating the new complex with its seventeenth-century heritage.
Related Figures
Étienne Martellange — père jésuite et architecte, auteur des plans du collège (vers 1615, 1620, 1634), figure centrale de l'architecture de la Compagnie de Jésus en FranceIgnace de Loyola — fondateur de la Compagnie de Jésus, dont la pédagogie et les règles architecturales ont directement inspiré la conception du collègeNapoléon Bonaparte — dont l'expédition d'Égypte (1798-1801) inspire directement les chapiteaux palmiformes du bâtiment de 1803-1804Jacques Cœur — grand argentier du roi, figure emblématique de Bourges dont l'héritage culturel forma le terreau d'excellence intellectuelle ayant motivé la création du collègeLes recteurs jésuites de Bourges — responsables successifs du collège entre 1573 et la suppression de l'ordre en 1762, garants de son rayonnement pédagogique
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ancien collège des Jésuites, dénommé collège Sainte-Marie, devenu lycée de garçons, actuellement école nationale supérieure d'Art located?
Ancien collège des Jésuites, dénommé collège Sainte-Marie, devenu lycée de garçons, actuellement école nationale supérieure d'Art is located in Bourges, Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
When was Ancien collège des Jésuites, dénommé collège Sainte-Marie, devenu lycée de garçons, actuellement école nationale supérieure d'Art built?
Ancien collège des Jésuites, dénommé collège Sainte-Marie, devenu lycée de garçons, actuellement école nationale supérieure d'Art dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Ancien collège des Jésuites, dénommé collège Sainte-Marie, devenu lycée de garçons, actuellement école nationale supérieure d'Art open to visitors?
Ancien collège des Jésuites, dénommé collège Sainte-Marie, devenu lycée de garçons, actuellement école nationale supérieure d'Art is currently closed to visitors.