COLLÈGE SAINT-MARC

Located in the Chatbye district, the Collège Saint-Marc was built in 1926 to accommodate more students than the École Sainte-Catherine could. This French-language institution is run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, who first established themselves in Egypt in the ^mid-19th century, and brought the country the quality of education it needed at the request of the khedive of the time. His pupils included Prince Abbas Halim and Dodi Al-Fayed, who died alongside Princess Lady Di in a tragic car accident under the Pont de l'Alma... Today, it is home to some 2,600 students. The building is in its original state, despite repeated stucco restorations: the molds have been preserved. You enter via a large esplanade overlooking an impressive facade, dominated by a cupola, which inspired the school's logo. Across the hall is the college chapel, whose choir is adorned with mosaics. To the left, in the hall, the honor salon still has its large carved wooden board on which the best students of the year have their names inscribed. The three-storey college is surrounded by a circular corridor, opening onto the central courtyard via stucco railings. Note the paving of the wide corridors, lined with black lines between which students, from kindergarten to senior year, must walk in uniform. Christmas mass at midnight is one of the city's institutions.