Figure 1.--Here we see the prepatory section of the Institut Saint-Boniface-Parnasse in 1882. The boys wear different styles of suits, but most have Eton collars and floppy bows. We wonder if this was a school requirement. The boys all wear kneepants, but of varying lengths. Most but not all of the boys wear long stockings.

We have very little information on the Institut Saint-Boniface-Parnasse. We know that it was located in Ixelles, Belgium. We know that it was founded in the 19th century and is still in operation. It is obviously a private school which I think is suggested by the term Institut. It was also obiously also a Catholic school. It appears to have had both primary and secondary levels. We also note that it had a Scout troop. The classes were taught in French, I'm not sure to what extent in accomodated Flemish students. Presumably the school policy here has varied over time. Hopefully Belgian readers can tell us more. We note an interesting school website. A Dutch reader tells us, "I am sure that this particular Belgian school accepted Flemish pupils AS LONG AS THEY SPOKE FRENCH. I clicked on one of their celebrations that caught my eye: Fête des Langues (festival of languages), hoping it would honor Dutch as well, being an official language in Belgium. No such luck, though, the school apparently persists in having French as its language of instruction, and I am not even certain that Dutch is being taught at all. The institution is located in one of the suburbs of Brussels where French dominates."

Created: 3:27 AM 5/9/2005
Last updated: 5:29 PM 5/16/2005