Saint-Cyr-l'École


Saint-Cyr-l'École

(săN-sēr-lākôl`), town (1990 pop. 14,832), Yvelines dept., N central France. A school for the daughters of impoverished noblemen was founded there in 1685 by Louis XIV and Mme de Maintenon. The building later housed the famous military academy (the West Point of France) founded by Napoleon in 1808. It was destroyed in World War II, and the school was moved to Coëtquidan in Brittany. A new military school was opened in 1966.