The military school, Ecole Militaire, located in a building overlooking the Champ de Mars. It provides a current Military Academy of France, tours are not allowed here. But it makes sense to explore the complex: its buildings are magnificent.

The impetus for the creation of the Military School in France was the outcome of the war of the Austrian Succession. The victory in her country was given a hard time. A brilliant military leader Count Maurice of Saxony saw the reason in the poor training of the French troops. He advised Louis XV to create a royal military school.

The King instructed the project architect Jacques Ange Gabriel. To finance construction of France introduced a special tax on card games. But due to lack of funds the initial draft has been thoroughly gutted. It was possible to maintain an impressive quadrangular dome of the central neoclassical building and its magnificent decor. The main entrance is framed by Corinthian columns, placed on the front of the coat of arms of Louis XV. From the main courtyard and the east building is decorated with work hours Lepota - they nearly two hundred and fifty years.

The eastern facade of the building opens onto a large meadow. It staged a military parade, called the Field of Mars. It was assumed here that the Cadets will learn Vaulting and fencing.

In 1756, the school took the first 200 cadets from poor noble families. In 1785, a graduate of the School became a second lieutenant of artillery Napoleon Bonaparte. However, on the eve of revolution, the school was closed, its building was a warehouse and barracks.

Meanwhile, at the Champ de Mars occurred important events. It was here 14 July 1790 Parisians, including King Louis XVI, swore allegiance to the Constitution. It is here that a year later the crowd demanded the abdication of the king, and the troops fired on the people.

In 1878, in a complex near the Champs de Mars reopened Higher Military School. Since then, the school produces military officers. From 1951 to 1966, then acting defense college of NATO, but France's withdrawal from the military organization of NATO College moved to Rome. Now the Paris Military Academy - one of the most prestigious military schools in France.