The Beaux-Arts de Paris opens the doors of their buildings classified as historical monuments.
Relive the history of art in the amphitheatre of honor, also called because of its shape «hemicycle of Delaroche», which owes its fame to its monumental mural painting and was raised from 1820 to 1841 by François Debret and Félix Duban as the final point of the progression in the architecture of the Beaux-Arts of Paris, starting from the entrance rue Bonaparte. This symbolic axis led the best students to the consecration of the Grand Prix, called Grand Prix of Rome, awarded in the amphitheatre of honor. Paul Delaroche’s large mural, The Genius of the Arts surrounded by artists of all time distributing crowns, begun in 1836, is signed and dated 1841. In the 19th century, when the Beaux-Arts de Paris became a model for the whole world, Delaroche’s painting accompanied this influence and summarized the dialogue between art of the past and art of today. Gustave Flaubert mentions it in his Dictionnaire des idées reçues: «Hémicycle. To know only that of the Beaux-Arts.» The restoration of the amphitheatre in 2016 allows the return, in 2017, of a legendary work of the French school: Romulus winner of Acron carrying the remains opimes to the temple of Jupiter capitoline of Jean-Dominique Ingres, painted in 1812 with tempera on order of Napoleon I. Succeeding Viollet-le-Duc or Hippolyte Taine, renowned artists and personalities from various backgrounds are still today invited by the Beaux-Arts de Paris to give lectures in the amphitheatre of honor, which is also used for teaching purposes.
The Beaux-Arts de Paris staff will guide you for an hour in the heart of one of the oldest art schools in the world. Immerse yourself in the life of the school and rediscover the history of art, architectural heritage and great history.
The Beaux-Arts de Paris, heirs of the Royal Academies of Painting and Sculpture, is both a place of training and artistic experimentation, a place of exhibition and conservation of historical and contemporary collections and a publishing house. Located in an exceptional site of more than two hectares in the heart of Paris, close to Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the establishment presents a condensed architecture, from the seventeenth with the Augustin chapel, to the twentieth century with the building signed Auguste Perret.
From the 19th century to May 1968, from academicism to the avant-garde, the Beaux-Arts de Paris have been witnesses and actors of their time for 200 years.
Guided tours take you to the Chapelle des Augustins, the courtyard of the mulberry tree, the courtyard of honor, the Palace of studies and its glazed courtyard, and the amphitheater of honor.