Maison d’Éducation de la Légion d’Honneur

A prestigious girls’ school since the 19th century, the Maison d’Éducation is part of the cloister of the Saint-Denis Basilica, the earliest masterpiece of French Gothic architecture and former royal necropolis.

Site History

Located in the cloister of the historic Saint-Denis Basilica, the necropolis of the French kings and queens, the Maison d’education de la Légion d’honneur is part of a small network of schools created by Napoleon I in 1805 to educate girls whose father, grandfather or great-grandfather had received the Legion of Honor. The first of the schools, the Château d’Écouen, was founded in 1807. Two years later, anxious to fill an educational void for young girls of soldiers fallen in battle, and convinced of the preponderant role that women would have to play in society, Napoleon decreed the creation of a second house of education in the former Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis. 

While tradition attributes the founding of the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis to Dagobert I, King of the Franks from 629 to 639, the church was likely built in the 5th century, atop the tomb of Saint Denis. King Dagobert had the saint’s relics interred in the abbey and was himself buried there. From then until the 19th century, the abbey served as the place of burial for 43 kings and 32 queens. In the 12th century, the basilica was rebuilt under Abbot Suger, an advisor to Kings Louis VI and VII, leading to the earliest expression of the new Gothic style in 1144. (Before the term “Gothic” came into common use, it was known as “the French style”) During the French Revolution, the tombs were desecrated, and the basilica was used for grain storage. 

In 1809, Napoleon I signed the decree for the installation of the Maison d’education de la Légion d’honneur in the abbey’s old monastic buildings. The school opened in 1811. Shortly thereafter, Napoleon commissioned the architect François Debret to restore the basilica. Debret was eventually replaced by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who completed the restoration. 

About the Project

The current restoration work concerns the repair of the roof of the 18th-century Intendant’s wing and the central pavilion, which are very damaged. This work is part of the ongoing restoration of the roofs of the convent buildings carried out over the past 15 years.

The Maison d’Éducation Today

The Legion of Honor’s House of Education continues to educate students at the high school and postbaccalaureate levels. Admission is reserved for the daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters of recipients of the Order of the Legion of Honor.