Cited in the Napoleonic city, the Fesch high school speaks to all Ajaccians. From a child’s perspective, this name plunges them into the past. It’s hard to imagine that these high walls steeped in history, with their ecru coloring, arcades, mosaics and such unique coats of arms have gone through multiple adventures before becoming the current educational institution.
To return to his short pants period, the director of the Fesch palace, Philippe Perfettini invited Jean-François Mata to present the stages of the construction of the Fesch. In detail, the speaker from the CAUE (Council for Architecture, Urban Planning and the Environment) developed, Thursday evening, the historical, religious, architectural, educational and political dimensions of the long process of construction of this establishment.
It all began in 1805, when Napoleon decided to make the Jesuit college a municipal college., in place of the current Forcioli-Conti school. At the same time, Monsignor Casanelli d’Istria, icon of the time for stopping a blood feud, requested the construction of a small seminary which would be 95% financed by the city of Ajaccio. The college, which had become too small, was transferred in 1845 to the Fesch Museum (it retained the name) where schoolchildren, middle school students, high school students, soldiers and works of art coexisted anarchically.
58 years of waiting…
After much damage, it was decided in 1878 to first enlarge the palace (the plans exist), then to build an establishment in place of the minor seminary. Joseph Vaudremer’s plans are not convincing. It took 30 years for architect Demetrius Rotter to take charge of the project. In the premises of the seminary and the old destroyed chapel stands the college. The long main building with its boarding schools is erected on Cours Grandval.
The architect designs everything, from the school’s iconic facade to the furniture. But the work was interrupted in 1914 then during the strikes of 1936. Until the first start of the school year (without heating), 25 years after the start of the work, in November 1936, Rotter still led the project. Despite the disappearance of the clock on the Cours Grandval side, the Fesch remains a remarkable architectural element of the historic center. Note that Jean-François Mata intervenes every year with the 4th grades of the college on the project Treasures of Fesch, carried by the librarian Danielle Cobacho, to teach them the history of their establishment. A escape game will even be developed this year.
2023-10-10 12:09:23
#Ajaccio #astonishing #history #construction #Fesch #city
