Beaux-Arts architecture (; ) expresses the academic
neoclassical architectural style taught at the
École des Beaux-Arts in
Paris. The
style "Beaux Arts" is above all the cumulative product of two-and-a-half centuries of instruction under the authority, first, of the
Académie royale d'architecture (1671–1793), then, following the French Revolution of the late 18th century, of the Architecture section of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts (1795– ). The organization under the
Ancien Régime of the competition for the "
Grand Prix de Rome" in architecture, offering a chance to study in Rome, imprinted its codes and aesthetic on the course of instruction, which culminated during the
Second Empire (1852–1870) and the
Third Republic that followed. The style of instruction that produced Beaux-Arts architecture continued without major interruption until 1968.