Collège Stanislas de Paris

Collège Stanislas, Paris - Coat of arms

Le Collège Stanislas de Paris (French pronunciation: [lə kɔlɛːʒ stanislas də paʁi]) is a private Catholic school in Paris, situated on "Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs" in the Montparnasse arrondissement. It has approximately 3,000 students, and is the largest private school in France.

Founded in 1804 by Father Claude Liautard, the Collège has both traditional buildings and modern constructions. Under contract with the French government, it offers curricula identical to those of public education, also offering religious education on specific days - originally Wednesdays, since the Jules Ferry Laws of 1882, but now Saturdays. In 1822, its formal name was declared, after the Polish King Stanisław Leszczyński, the great-grandfather of the King of France Louis XVIII, whose second forename was "Stanislas".

Since 1903 Collège has been the property of a S.A. corporation founded by former alumni. As of 2002, the school's director is Daniel Chapellier.

The Collège, along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and the Lycée Henri-IV, provides the bulk of the French Republic's elite.^{[citation needed]}

Private education in France was indirectly, yet deeply, affected by the strong anti-clerical movement that inspired French politicians throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, beginning with the Concordat of 1801. As a result, the Collège almost disappeared but ultimately was kept open by the efforts of former alumni. Even today, it remains isolated from Paris' foremost public Lycées, although Stanislas' "Classes Préparatoires" ultimately leads its students to the same Grandes Écoles as its rivals.

Notable alumni

• King Alfonso XII of Spain
• Edmond Rostand
• Christian Dior
• Gilles Perrault
• Georges Guynemer
• Jacques-Yves Cousteau
• Jacques Lacan
• Marcel L'Herbier
• Anatole France
• Marc Sangnier
• Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia
• Carlos Ghosn
• General Charles de Gaulle

References

• French Wikipedia article
• (French) Official school website (School's history page)

Coordinates: 48°50′43″N 2°19′39″E / 48.84528°N 2.3275°E / 48.84528; 2.3275