{"id":1737,"date":"2021-04-07T22:30:06","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T20:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/master-patrimoine-culturel.fr\/campus-orleans-patrimoine\/?p=1737"},"modified":"2021-04-20T14:51:48","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T12:51:48","slug":"history-of-the-establishment-of-the-campus-in-orleans-la-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/master-patrimoine-culturel.fr\/campus-orleans-patrimoine\/index.php\/en\/2021\/04\/07\/history-of-the-establishment-of-the-campus-in-orleans-la-source\/","title":{"rendered":"History of the establishment of the campus in Orleans- La Source"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The path that led to choosing this land in La Source as the seat of the current university was not made in one piece and is closely linked to the context of the time. The beginning of the 1960s was indeed marked by a densification in higher education. Faced with the growing number of students, which remains mainly concentrated in Parisian universities, a decentralization movement begins. It will favor cities close to the capital, such as Orleans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this movement of Parisian decentralization adds the will of the municipality of Orleans (and in particular of its mayor Roger Secr\u00e9tain, elected on March 20, 1959) to revitalize the city. In this search for dynamism, reviving the University of Orleans, considered one of the oldest in Europe, appears to be a key point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day after Roger Secr\u00e9tain’s election, the possibility of setting up a University Scientific College in Orleans was discussed. This prospect is remarked at the highest summit of the State : in a letter dated September 10, 1959, Prime Minister Michel Debr\u00e9 thus declared \u201cI want to tell you that I am still closely following the problem of Parisian decentralization and that Orleans cannot be forgotten ! \u00ab\u00a0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the city of Orleans was facing a housing crisis due to an ever growing population. As a matter of fact, the municipality also had to welcome, at the request of the State, repatriates from Algeria. This housing crisis then had an impact on the university project : the lack of available intramural space was making it impossible to build in Orleans itself. This choice would have led to the destruction of buildings which had just been rebuilt after the Second World War, and Mayor Roger Secr\u00e9tain refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two factors, combined with that of the fall in the price of land, led the municipality and the Departmental Council of Loiret to jointly acquire in 1959 the Domaine de la Source as well as its castle. At the time, the estate was attached to the town of Saint-Cyr en Val.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unlike the urban area of Orleans which was fully rebuilt after the Second World War, the Domaine de la Source is \u201ca rural and wooded area where the Loiret, an affluent of the Loire river, takes its source at a place called \u201cLe Bouillon\u201d\u00a0\u00bb (which is a reference to water bubbling, as if it was boiling). What would later take the name of La Source district was just a wooded area devoid of any buildings except the La Source Castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aerial view of the La Source Castle sector – around 1960
\u00a9 archives of Orl\u00e9ans M\u00e9tropole<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In parallel with this acquisition, an university expansion committee met in March 1959. This newly created committee was initially responsible to think about the location of the future campus. Among the lands considered was the property of Saint-Loup in Saint-de-Braye, but also the La Source Castel itself. After several months of reflection, and given the number of students, it is the latter which was chosen as the location of the future university center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project of Orl\u00e9ans II<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An ambitious project emerged : \u00ab\u00a0Orl\u00e9ans II\u00a0\u00bb, led by Roger Secr\u00e9tain, in collaboration with rector of the Orl\u00e9ans-Tours academy G\u00e9rald Antoine. This project, carried out from 1963 to 1978, included the construction of the new town and that of the university. In 1962, Pierre Sudreau, then Minister of National Education, entrusted the architects Louis Arretche <\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a>and Olivier-Cl\u00e9ment Cacoub<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a>. The two architects worked together by harmonizing their plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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