Ecole de Chirurgie

Ecole de Chirurgie is a historic building found in Paris. Currently, it is the headquarters of Paris Descartes University. Jacques Gondoin was the architect who designed the building from the year 1769 to 1774. The building was built after the school incorporated surgery into the system. The building was designed to symbolize King Louis XV respect for his surgeon Germain Pichault. After the building was completed, a surgery academy was established and dissolved later in the year 1750. The ground floor of the building had a rectangular theatre which was used by midwives. Also, it had various rooms which were used as a lab, training students were also given their rooms, a hall, and a hospital. The next floor had a library and offices which were used by the surgeons, and halls which acted as classes for the students. Although the original plan of the building had a civil prison which was meant to supplier corpses, it was never built (Braham and Allan, p.142). The hemispherical amphitheater was the most vital part of the building, and it was situated at the rear. This design had an advantage as it carries within the traditional form of earlier anatomy theatre. The plan of antique theatre allowed the accommodation of many spectators as they would view an ongoing operation.

The building is currently being used by Universite Rene Descartes as a school of medical and social sciences. The building is also being used as a perfect example of neo-classical architecture. During its construction, it was universally praised as it was a masterpiece of its kind.

The buildings topology was based on the style of a public building versus a private building. The building appears symmetrical as it is situated on an irregular plot. It has three wings which surround a court which acts as circulation for the rest of the building. Various ionic columns were placed on the courts which faced the streets. The columns facing the capitals were installed with a plain frieze (Braham and Allan,p.143). Between the entablature and the upper cornice of the building, there is also an ionic relief panel which directly faces the streets. In the rear is where you find the atmospherical anatomy.

The exterior signifies a Corinthian portico which features columns standing freely. The entrance of the building is on the sides as it represents a temple. The building was modeled after Pantheon thus lit by an oculus which provided the room with the necessary degree of illumination. The building has a sitting of 1200 spectators who witnessed all the surgery happening since they wanted to be a part of it. They termed surgery as a progressive movement. The portraits of the predecessors like Le Martiniere are placed in a semi-circular manner above the main doorway and some paintings which developed the theme of frontispiece. The portraits of the king was a symbolic representation him encouraging their progress and rewarding their hard work which the gods represented defending the country from blood spill (Braham and Allan,p.143). The design was later copied in various debating chambers and government buildings such as the French National Assembly at Luxembourg. Peyre who was Gondoins colleague pleaded that this design should not be criticized if it displayed more of a temple than a church and his former teacher described the building as an architecture superior to anything.

Works Cited

Braham, Allan. The architecture of the French enlightenment. Univ of California Press, 1989.