Lycée Émile-Zola, Rennes

The Lycée Emile Zola is a secondary school in Rennes, located on Avenue Janvier (January Avenue). It is the oldest school in the region of Ille-et-Vilaine. Established in 1035 it is not for nothing called "the Old School." The current building is the 1859 creation of architect Jean-Baptiste Martenot. Construction elements are brick and limestone.

The school is one of the premier French schools created in 1802. It was opened in 1809, replacing the Municipal and Royal College of Saint-Thomas and the Central School of Ille-et-Vilaine. In the 19th century, the author Victor Jarry created his famous character Ubu here. In 1899 the school hosted the second trial of Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history.

Previously the school had gone by the name of College Royale under the Restoration of the monarchy of Louis-Philippe in 1830. It was known as the Imperial School of Rennes under the Second Empire of Napoleon III. It was under the Second Empire that Jean-Baptiste Martenot began his renovations of the school compound.

Martenot followed the Louis XIII style in building, using his bricks and tuff stone. The entrance was changed to face the new railroad station. The cornerstone was laid in 1859. A chapel was constructed to replace the chapel of St. Thomas, which was in ruins.

In 1971 the school was named after the French writer Émile Zola. The site now constitutes the Émile Zola school complex, including a middle and a high school. Today the school specializes in the sciences and social studies.