Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie

The Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie is an academic building in Paris, better known as the Michelet Campus. Paul Bigot designed it for an educational institution of the same name, with construction running from 1924 to 1932. The frame is reinforced concrete, and the bright red brick cladding was made at the Gournay brickworks in Vitry-sur-Seine.

The style is eclectic, borrowing from Tuscan Renaissance architecture and the Doge's Palace in Venice. People have compared it to a synagogue, a hammam and the Alhambra in Granada. Designer Jacques Doucet started a pioneering art library in 1908, and the building originally housed it. That collection later moved to the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Bibliothèque Michelet took its place in 1997. It gained Monument historique status in 1996, and comprehensive renovations followed during the 2000s. Two departments teach inside, one belonging to the Sorbonne University Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the other to Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.

Outside, the entrance doors carry Raymond Subes metalwork and combine motifs from different periods of art history. Above them runs a red terracotta frieze, reproducing iconic sculptures studied in art history. It moves from lion-faced gargoyles of Himera through sections of the Parthenon Frieze to pieces from ancient Egypt, Assyria and Angkor Wat.