Paris1972-Versailles2003

It has been a pleasure indeed and especially coming around to see my posts on my old home of Versailles. Sublime!!! Thank for reading me and following me over the years, really appreciated. Let me tell you more of my Versailles! With older new to blog picture from my cd rom vault. It is more than just a castle, it’s a Royal city of France, and perpetual seat of the French constitution if ever needs changes adjustments to it, a de facto capital city of France. Therefore, let me tell you about the Chapel and museum of the Lycée Hoche of Versailles !!!Hope you enjoy the post as I.

We visited the wonderful old Lycée Hoche, one of the highest learning secondary or high school in France in the scientific field. It is at 73 ave Saint Cloud, and were before the convent of the queen, that were given to the school after the French revolution. Built between 1767  and 1772,and became an Imperial college in 1806, by 1888 it was rename Hoche in honor of local native General Lazare Hoche. Inside you have the Chapel and Hoche high school Museum, It was Marie Leszczynska, wife of King Louis XV, who wanted to provide a school to young girls in the city of Versailles. At the heart of the vast building built for this purpose, visit the sumptuous neoclassical chapel which is the jewel, Located in the heart of the old convent this chapel is a jewel of neoclassical architecture. The students were more than 500 when the nuns were expelled in 1792 during the French revolution. It was followed by Napoleon 1er, who made it a high school of boys, which became Hoche high school in 1888. The musée Lycée Hoche is mainly scientific, the very beautiful collections consist of objects of physical sciences and natural sciences used for some from the 18C, for the education of the children of France. The others were gathered for the students of the school in the 19C, and are as beautiful as it is interesting. The museum also presents, during exhibitions, documents relating to the history of the school.

The construction was during the third project that Richard Mique adopted the final form of the chapel, in the Greek cross, with dome and side chapels. The queen will not see this church since she died on June 26, 1768 and the chapel was not built until the following year. The exterior was finished in 1772 when the nuns entry into the convent. The interior was completed in 1779, on the death of Louis XV. Richard Mique is deeply inspired by Antiquity to create in particular an entry like an ancient temple. Based on the writings of the Roman architect Vitruve, he chooses the ion style, a feminine style par excellence for a convent of nuns in honor of Mary, and the proportions used are very close to the small temple of Virile Fortune dedicated to Portunus, at the Boarium forum in Rome. Richard Mique, like the Pantheon of Rome, sets up by learning a game of roofs around a central dome. On pendants, it is completed by four adjunctions in cloister arches followed by two side chapels and a hemispherical choir while the entrance is rectangular. The four corners,of the building are square lean-to forming a large square with the Greek cross. The front-body is treated like a temple with four ionic columns on the front and two at the rear engaged in the wall.

The interior of the chapel is very richly decorated. In the slightly raised choir, there are three grids. The two laterals open to the right on the choir of the nuns and on the left on that of the residents, separated from the public physically because of the rules of the closing of the congregation. The small central grid in the axis was originally attributed to the sovereign who could thus follow Mass without being seen. The chapel is part of the Notre-Dame de Versailles parish. It therefore has a cult role with the celebration of a Mass at least once a month and the student meeting for prayer times on Wednesday evening in general. Visits and concerts of chamber music and/or sacred music regularly contribute to its cultural role in the city. The chapel received a beautiful restoration, completed in 2011.

The Versailles tourist office on the Chapel at the lycée Hoche : https://www.versailles-tourisme.com/la-chapelle-et-le-musee-du-lycee-hoche.html

There you go folks, Versailles will always remain close to our hearts, who needs Paris when you had Versailles ! Really ! The visits to Versailles now are always full of memories and wonderful times ; always great to be back. Again, hope you have enjoy the post on the Chapel and museum of the Lycée Hoche of Versailles !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!