École Militaire

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This is the École Militaire /ekɔl militɛʁ/, which, as its name implies, has been from its construction (in the mid-1700s) a military school. Today, the institutions housed within are among the grandes écoles of France (the equivalent of Ivy League schools in the U.S.).

Napoléon Bonaparte himself passed through this school, obtaining excellent grades, in his teens. One of his superiors remarked that he would make “an excellent sailor.”

The school is at the southeastern end of the Champ de Mars, a large park. At the other end is the Eiffel Tower. The squarish building behind the school is the Tour Montparnasse.

Photographed on September 3, 1999.