Metadata: Archives of the Lycée de Bruxelles, the École Royale des Sciences et des Lettres de Bruxelles, Athénée Royal de Bruxelles and Athénée Jules Bordet
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- State Archives in Brussels (Anderlecht)
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archives de l’État à Bruxelles (Anderlecht)
- Postal address:
- Quai Demets 7 / Demetskaai 7, 1070 Bruxelles (Anderlecht)
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 524 61 15
- Email:
- archives.anderlecht@arch.be
- Reference number:
- SAB-Anderlecht-541-137
- Title:
- Archives of the Lycée de Bruxelles, the École Royale des Sciences et des Lettres de Bruxelles, Athénée Royal de Bruxelles and Athénée Jules Bordet
- Title (official language):
- Archives du Lycée de Bruxelles, École Royale des Sciences et des Lettres de Bruxelles, Athénée Royal de Bruxelles et Athénée Jules Bordet
- Creator/accumulator:
- Athénée Jules Bordet; Atheneum Jules Bordet
- Date(s):
- 1803/2002
- Extent:
- 18 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- This fonds contains documents related to the organisation of the school, its finances and bookkeeping, its boarding school, buildings, staff, students, curriculum, library, extracurricular activities and celebrations, anniversaries and commemorations. We note that many Jewish children from Brussels pursued their high school education in the Athénée Royal de Bruxelles. The documents concerning students of the school are arranged by school year. We note lists of students (by class), class photographs, photographs of students, but also evaluations and reports on the grades of the students, arranged chronologically. Of particular interest is the archival material regarding the pre-war period, the Second World War, and the immediate post-war years.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Lycée de Bruxelles opened in 1803 and was located in the former Coudenberg abbey. A boarding school was created some years later and by 1814 the school counted nearly 200 pupils. The name change to École Royale des Sciences et des Lettres de Bruxelles (1817-1818) only lasted for one year; in 1818 it was changed to Athénée Royal de Bruxelles. Between 1824 and 1830, classes were taught in Dutch, leading to a drop in the number of French-speaking students. On the eve of the Belgian Revolution, the Athénée had 160 students. Municipalities and cities were given a greater role in education, and the city of Brussels decided to move the Athénée to the buildings of the former hospital located in the rue des Douze Apôtres. The curriculum evolved and the number of students increased significantly, reaching between 400 and 500 pupils in the years 1845-1850. The education of the school was strictly secular until the late 19th century; the first class in religion was given in 1896. The school was a great success and counted between 800 and 900 pupils in the 1870s-1880s. The number of pupils continued to grow, and it became necessary to relocate, this time near the Sablon and Royal Palace. However, the creation of the Athénée d’Ixelles led to a decrease in almost half of the students between 1897 and 1913. In 1911-1912, education was organised in two linguistic regimes, and remained so until 1957, when French would once again become the exclusive language of instruction. At the end of the 19th century and for much of the 20th century, the Athénée Royal de Bruxelles was the largest high school in Belgium in terms of student enrolment. It was also a breeding ground for the formation of the liberal French-speaking intellectual elite of Brussels, and it played an important role in the social and cultural life of the capital. Auguste Baron, one of its prefects, was also among the founders of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. A significant number of politicians, academics, lawyers and other figures studied at the Athénée before enrolling at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The school changed its name for a last time in 1970 to Athénée Jules Bordet, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jules Bordet, Nobel Prize laureate and former student of the Athénée. In 1973-1974 the school opened its doors to girls. The number of pupils of the Athénée declined sharply, to nearly 200 students in the early 1980s. The social and demographic changes in the city of Brussels also modified the composition of the school, which became more diverse. Eventually, the rationalisation policy undertaken within the schools of the Communauté française led to the fusion of the Athénée Jules Bordet with the Institut technique de la Communauté française Chômé-Wijns in Anderlecht in 2002. These two schools became the Athénée Royal Léonardo de Vinci. (H. Deceulaer & B. Pierret, Inventaris van het archief van het Lyceum van Brussel, de l’École royale des Sciences et des Lettres de Bruxelles (1817-1818), het Koninklijk Atheneum van Brussel (1818-1970) en het Atheneum Jules Bordet (1970-2002), I 504, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 2011.)
- Access points: locations:
- Brussels
- Access, restrictions:
- Archival material older than 30 years can be consulted freely. For consultation of more recent archives, researchers should contact the Ministère de l’Enseignement of the Communauté française.
- Finding aids:
- H. Deceulaer & B. Pierret, Inventaris van het archief van het Lyceum van Brussel, de l’École royale des Sciences et des Lettres de Bruxelles (1817-1818), het Koninklijk Atheneum van Brussel (1818-1970) en het Atheneum Jules Bordet (1970-2002), I 504, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 2011.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
