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Saint-Cyr

Saint-Cyr does not train soldiers; it makes officers — and it has been making them since Napoleon founded the school in 1802. On the moors of Coëtquidan, in Brittany, cadets move between lecture theatres and fern-covered fields, between the library and the assault course, in a uniform crowned with a plume that has not changed in two centuries.

Each winter, for the anniversary of Austerlitz, the academy stages the Emperor’s battle in period dress: cannon, bicornes, cavalry and pink smoke. It looks like theatre, and it is — but it is also a lesson. At Saint-Cyr, memory is a training ground.

Three Saint-Cyr cadets in Grand Uniforme with plumed shakos stand guard on the parade square — The Grand Uniforme, the casoar plume.

A camouflaged instructor watches from stadium steps as a cadet platoon runs the track below — Morning training.

Silhouetted cadet doing pull-ups on outdoor bars against the low sun — Physical training at first light.

A cadet in field dress reads in the academy library, Saint-Cyr history books on the shelves — The library. An officer is also made of books.

A packed lecture theatre of cadets in camouflage, rifles stacked at the rear — Lecture hall, rifles stacked at the back.

A cadet squad with rifles advances through golden ferns on a field exercise — Field exercise in the ferns of Coëtquidan.

A period field cannon in the foreground as cadets in Napoleonic dress mingle with others in camouflage — December. The academy prepares its Austerlitz.

Cadets in Empire staff uniforms beside a pine bearing the sign ’Quartier général de l’Empereur’ — The Emperor’s headquarters, backstage.

Close portrait of a cadet dressed as a Napoleonic officer in bicorne, astride a white horse — A cadet becomes a Napoleonic officer for a day.

Red-coated cavalry gallops past bare-chested cadets in Saint-Cyr shirts charging uphill with flags — The charge — a tradition as old as the school.

A general in camouflage is greeted on a red carpet by cadets dressed as Napoleon and his marshals — The general commanding the school is received by the Emperor.

Cadets portraying Napoleon and his staff overlook the smoke-wreathed reenacted battle — Napoleon and his inner circle keep watch over the battle.

A line of reenacted grenadiers with muskets amid pink smoke before spectators — Period costumes are rented for the occasion.

Portrait of the Saint-Cyr cadet known as the class’s Napoleon, in Grand Uniforme in the academy’s memorial hall — A portrait of the class’s “Napoleon” — cadets also call him the “père système”.