Conservatoire national des Arts et Métiers, Higher education institution in Le Marais, Paris, France.
The Conservatoire national des Arts et Métiers is a higher education institution for engineering and science in the third arrondissement of Paris. The main campus sits in a former Benedictine priory with Gothic buildings and an attached museum.
Henri Grégoire founded the institution in October 1794 during the Revolution as a repository for machines and tools. The medieval priory was repurposed for this new role and has housed the collections ever since.
The collections are housed in the former refectory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs Priory, built by Pierre de Montereau, not in a chapel. The museum grew out of the 1794 depository of machines, models, tools and drawings, and its motto "Omnes docet ubique" (teaching to everyone everywhere) sums up the evening and distance courses for working adults.
The headquarters occupies the former Saint-Martin-des-Champs Priory at 270, 278 and 292 rue Saint-Martin, in the 3rd arrondissement. The Musée des Arts et Métiers, built around the collections, sits within this complex, so the teaching spaces and the museum are separate areas reached from the same Marais street. Check opening times for each before setting out.
The collection includes an automated loom by Jacques de Vaucanson that later inspired Joseph Marie Jacquard. This device shows how mechanical ideas from the eighteenth century transformed the textile industry.
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