ClasséAbbey · protected 1944Ancienne abbaye de Saint-Corneille, abritant la Bibliothèque municipale Saint-CorneillePart of the building is protectedPhoto: P.poschadel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Chapelle Sainte-Corneille, dans la forêt de Compiègne · Photo: JM BACCIOCHINI · CC BY-SA 3.048historic monuments
History of Compiègne · Monuments historiques
48 historic monuments and a protected historic area since 2006
The Culture ministry lists 48 historic monuments in Compiègne: 16 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 31 inscrit (the second level). 1 has no protection level on the list. That’s 12 for every 10,000 residents, more per resident than 88% of compared French towns; the median compared French town has 2.5. The oldest date from the 12th century. We have photos of 38 of them.
Monuments historiques
48
12 per 10,000 residents
median compared town 2.5
median compared town 2.5
Classé
16
the highest protection
Inscrit
31
the second level
Oldest part
12th c.
of any listed monument
Homes before 1919
6.9%
median compared town 7.4%
In pictures
Compiègne in 38 photos
Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Ancienne abbaye de Saint-Corneille, abritant la Bibliothèque municipale Saint-CorneilleClassé
Vestiges du couvent des Jacobins et ancienne enceinte de la villeClassé
Palais de Compiègne et ses abordsClassé
Église Saint-AntoineClassé
Hôtel de villeClassé+33See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.
Protected area
Compiègne has had a protected historic area since 2006
Sites patrimoniaux remarquables on the Culture ministry’s list, with the plan in force.
| Area | Created as | Plan in force |
|---|---|---|
| SPR32-18 | ZPPAUP April 24, 2006 | AVAP (heritage area rules) February 1, 2020 |
A site patrimonial remarquable protects a whole area rather than one building: inside it, building work follows the area’s own plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
The list gives no boundaries, so the map can’t show the area.
Map
Where Compiègne’s monuments stand
Every monument with a point on the ministry’s list; the larger, darker dots are classé.
ClasséInscritWithin 400 m of Ancienne abbaye de Saint-Corneille, abritant la Bibliothèque municipale Saint-Corneille
6 of 16classé monuments stand within 400 m of Ancienne abbaye de Saint-Corneille, abritant la Bibliothèque municipale Saint-Corneille, with 27 of the town’s 48 monuments.
Tap a dot to open the monument’s page: its record, photo and the monuments around it.
48 monuments by protection
16 Classé31 Inscrit1 Level not given
Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point. 2 monuments have no point on the map.
Classé
16 classé monuments in Compiègne
Classé is France’s highest protection for a building, held by about a third of the monuments on the list. 3 of the 16 are protected in part only (a façade, a roof, a room). Each card opens the monument’s page.
ClasséChapel · protected 1922Chapelle Sainte-Corneille, dans la forêt de CompiègnePhoto: JM BACCIOCHINI · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClasséConvent · protected 1930Vestiges du couvent des Jacobins et ancienne enceinte de la villePart of the building is protectedPhoto: P.poschadel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClasséChâteau · protected 2022Palais de Compiègne et ses abordsPhoto: © 2005 Idarvol · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr · Wikimedia Commons
Classé
Classé
Classé
ClasséBuilding · protected 1926Immeuble, 13, anciennement Alger (rue d') rue Fournier-SarlovèzePart of the building is protectedPhoto: P.poschadel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Monument · protected 2022Clairière de l'Armistice
Monument · protected 2022Centre équestre du Grand Parc
Monument · protected 2022Maison forestière de la Croix du Saint-Signe
Monument · protected 2022Maison forestière de la Grille des Beaux-Monts
Monument · protected 2022Maison forestière de la Porte Chapelle
Monument · protected 2022Pôle équestre du Compiégnois
Monument · protected 2022Stade Jouve-Senez
Monument · protected 2022Stade Paul Cosyns
Inscrit
32 inscrit monuments in Compiègne
Inscrit is the second level of protection: the building is worth keeping, and any work on it must be declared. 1 of them has no protection level on the list.
All 31, A to Z
Abbaye de RoyallieuAncien couvent des Minimes, devenu Ecole des Frères des Ecoles chrétiennes, actuelle Ecole Pierre SauvageAncien grenier à selAncien Hôpital Saint-JosephAncien Hôtel d'ArtoisAncien hôtel des Relations extérieuresAncienne prison contiguë à l'Hôtel de ville, derrière la porte de l'ArsenalAncienne Surintendance des Bâtiments du RoiAnciens rempartsAuberge des Trois LuronsCimetière de ClamartÉglise anglicane Saint-André (ancienne)Église Saint-Pierre, ancienne église du couvent des MinimesHippodrome du PutoisHôtel de la Petite RoseHôtel des RatsHôtel, 2, anciennement Alger (rue d') rue Fournier-SarlovèzeHôtel, 21 rue du Président-SorelHôtel, 25, anciennement Alger (rue d') rue Fournier-SarlovèzeImmeuble, 43 rue de ParisImmeubles, 12 rue des CordeliersMaison "La vieille Cassine"Maison à pan de boisMaison, 14 rue de ParisMaison, 18 rue de SolferinoMaison, 26 rue VivenelMaison, 6 rue des LombardsPont de Jeanne d'Arc sous la maison (les arches)Quartier BourcierTour Jeanne d'ArcVilla Marcot, aujourd'hui annexe du collège Jacques-Monod
10 more, named only by their kind
10 more are named in the list only by their kind: 5 houses (maisons), 3 town houses (hôtels) and 2 buildings (immeubles), most from the 18th century. The 9 with an address are in the list above, by it.
15th c.1
16th c.2
18th c.5
19th c.2
What’s protected
Houses and homes are the largest group in Compiègne
Each monument under the main domain Mérimée gives it.
Houses & homes19
Religious buildings9
Public & civic5
Military & fortified3
Tombs & cemeteries2
Bridges & engineering1
Shops & trade1
Houses & homes: 19 of 48 monuments (40%). 9 are religious buildings, 5 of them classé.
Mérimée files each monument under one main domain: a château with its chapel counts once. 8 have no domain on the list.
How old
How old Compiègne’s monuments are
Each monument once, by the oldest part the list dates.
Prehistory & Antiquity to the 4th c.0
Middle Ages 5th–15th c.8
16th to 18th century Renaissance to Revolution20
19th century 1801–19005
20th century and later since 19012
8 of 35 dated monuments have parts from before 1500. The oldest dated: Ancienne abbaye de Saint-Corneille, abritant la Bibliothèque municipale Saint-Corneille (12th–18th c.). 13 monuments have no date on the list.
When protected
10 of Compiègne’s monuments were protected in 1946
Monuments by the year they were first protected.
1946 · 102022 · 10
1840186018801900192019401960198020002020
First protected, in 1840: Église Saint-Antoine and Hôtel de ville. That was France’s first list of monuments historiques, drawn up in Prosper Mérimée’s time as inspector. 10 were protected in 1946 alone. 12 have been added since 2011.
Born before 1900
30 people born in Compiègne before 1900
The 20 best known on the line, and eight of them below.
Pierre d'Ailly
Jacques de Billy
Marc-Antoine Hersan
Jean Le Caron de Mazencourt
Benoît Mottet de La Fontaine
Jean-François Thirial
Gabriel Toussaint Scellier
Jean-Baptiste Charles Matthieu
Pierre Marie Desmaret
Antoine Vivenel
Alexandre-Édouard Baudrimont
Louis Hyacinthe Boivin
Gaston Maximilien Louis Eugène de Béthune
Louis-François Desmarest
Albert Robida
Alice Mathieu-Dubois
Paul Helbronner
Eugène Albertini
Jehanne d’Orliac
Marcel Tabuteau
13501500165018001950
Pd
Pierre d'Ailly1350–1420 · French theologian and astrologer
JB
Jacques de Billy1602–1679 · French mathematician
BM
Benoît Mottet de La Fontaine1745–1820 · French colonial governor
JB
Jean-Baptiste Charles Matthieu1763–1833 · French politician
AÉ
Alexandre-Édouard Baudrimont1806–1880 · French chemist
AR
Albert Robida1848–1926 · French illustrator
AM
Alice Mathieu-Dubois1861–1942 · first Black French woman to qualify as a medical doctor.
PH
Paul Helbronner1871–1938 · French topographer, alpinist and geodesist
Everyone born in Compiègne Birthplaces from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia.
Towns its size
Compiègne has the 4th most monuments of 41 towns its size
Compared French towns of 38,200 to 43,600 residents, by historic monuments.
Compiègne48
#4 of 41for monuments per resident (12 per 10,000). Most per resident: Arras, Paris 6e and Châlons-en-Champagne.
The median town of these has 8. 3 of the 41 have none.
Neighbors
Historic monuments in the towns around Compiègne
| Town | Residents | Monuments | Classé | Protected area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compiègne | 40,761 | 48 | 16 | Yes |
| Venette | 2,758 | 4 | 1 | — |
| Margny-lès-Compiègne | 8,677 | 2 | 1 | — |
| Choisy-au-Bac | 3,449 | 2 | 1 | — |
| Lacroix-Saint-Ouen | 5,415 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Longueil-Annel | 2,586 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Thourotte | 4,463 | 1 | 1 | — |
In brief
Compiègne in brief
Compiègne’s oldest monument, Ancienne abbaye de Saint-Corneille, abritant la Bibliothèque municipale Saint-Corneille, dates from the 12th century. All told, the list holds 48 historic monuments, 16 of them classé, including Chapelle Sainte-Corneille, dans la forêt de Compiègne. Église Saint-Jacques is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For its size, it has more historic monuments than 88% of compared French towns.
Ancienne abbaye de Saint-Corneille, abritant la Bibliothèque municipale Saint-Corneille sits at the heart of it all, with 6 of the town’s classé monuments within 400 m. Only 3 of the 41 towns nearest its size have more historic monuments. Part of it has been a site patrimonial remarquable since 2006. Beyond that, 6.9% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 7.4% in the median compared French town.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Monuments historiques. France protects buildings at two levels. Classé, the higher (about a third of the list), means any work needs the State’s permission; inscrit means work must be declared to the State in advance. The Culture ministry’s Mérimée base lists every protected building, and this page counts them.
- Partly protected. Many entries protect part of a building only (its façades and roofs, a staircase, a painted room). Each counts as one monument, like a fully protected one.
- Where a monument is counted. In the commune named on its protection, moved to today’s commune where communes have since merged. A monument listed for several communes counts in each.
- Sites patrimoniaux remarquables. Since 2016 France’s protected historic areas (the former secteurs sauvegardés, ZPPAUP and AVAP) share one name. Inside one, building work follows the area’s plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
- What isn’t here. Protected objects (furniture, organs, paintings), old buildings with no protection, UNESCO World Heritage listings and labels such as “Plus Beaux Villages de France” aren’t on this list, so this page doesn’t count them.
- No History Grade yet. Everything on this page is described, not graded: France’s History Grade isn’t built yet.
Questions about the history of Compiègne
How many historic monuments are there in Compiègne?
The Culture ministry lists 48 historic monuments in Compiègne: 16 classé and 31 inscrit.
Which monuments in Compiègne are classé?
16, among them Ancienne abbaye de Saint-Corneille, abritant la Bibliothèque municipale Saint-Corneille, Chapelle Sainte-Corneille, dans la forêt de Compiègne, Vestiges du couvent des Jacobins et ancienne enceinte de la ville, Palais de Compiègne et ses abords, Clairière de l'Armistice and Centre équestre du Grand Parc.
How old are the monuments of Compiègne?
The oldest parts of its listed monuments date from the 12th century.
Is Compiègne a protected historic area?
Yes: part of Compiègne has been a site patrimonial remarquable since 2006.
When were monuments in Compiègne first protected?
The first in 1840, the latest in 2022.
How old are the homes in Compiègne?
6.9% of its main homes were built before 1919 (median compared French town: 7.4%).
France has no History Grade yet: this page describes, it doesn’t grade.
Sources: Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée base on POP (immeubles protégés au titre des monuments historiques), October 2026 · Ministère de la Culture, sites patrimoniaux remarquables, October 2026 · INSEE, census 2023 (main homes by build period) · Wikidata and Wikipedia (people born here) · Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata (photos of the monuments, each with its own credit and license) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated October 30, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.