Institut de France
The (; Institute of France) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the Institute manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and châteaux open for visit. It also awards prizes and subsidies, which amounted to a total of over €27 million per year in 2017. Most of these prizes are awarded by the Institute on the recommendation of the . History. The building was originally constructed as the Collège  des Quatre-Nations by Cardinal Mazarin, as a school for students from new provinces attached to France under Louis XIV. The inscription over the façade reads "JUL. MAZARIN S.R.E. CARD BASILICAM ET GYMNAS F.C.A M.D.C.LXI", attesting that Mazarin ordered its construction in 1661. The Institut de France was established on 25 October 1795, by the National Convention. On 1 January 2018, Xavier Darcos took office as the Institut de France's chancellor. Elected in 2017 to succeed Gabriel de Broglie, he was reelected in 2020. The chancellor acts as the Institute's secretary general, whilst the organisation itself is placed  under the protection of the President of the Republic. Influence. The Royal Society of Canada, initiated 1882, was modeled after the Institut de France and the Royal Society of London. The Lebanese Academy of Sciences, known officially by its French name "Académie des Sciences du Liban" (ASL), is broadly fashioned after the French Academy of Sciences, with which it continues to develop joint programmes.