Building work on the Institut Pasteur began 130 years ago

"This is the start of post-exposure rabies prophylaxis. (...) A rabies vaccine center should be set up," declared Louis Pasteur on March 1, 1886 at the French Academy of Sciences, after revealing the results of the first human vaccinations against rabies. The Academy immediately appointed a committee, which took the unanimous decision to launch an international appeal for funds to set up this center, which would be "known as the Institut Pasteur". The scope of the plan soon grew: the new center would be "a dispensary for rabies treatment, a center for research into infectious diseases and a center for education" – as laid down by the Institut Pasteur's articles of association, which were approved by order of the Council of State on June 4, 1887.

The first challenge was choosing and purchasing a suitable plot of land for the new institute. Pasteur originally thought of asking for help from Paris City Council. "Scientists are coming from all over the world to learn about the process of virus attenuation. They need to be given a level of hospitality worthy of Paris and of French science," said the President of the City Council in April 1886. But the discussions were heated, and some Council members, detractors of Pasteur's methods, opposed the plan. In late May 1886, a plot already used by Louis Pasteur in rue Vauquelin, plus an additional 2,500m², were finally offered. After careful consideration, Louis Pasteur turned down the offer. "Every laboratory-based scientist would prefer a more modest but independent facility for the new institute," he wrote in January 1887 to the Vice-President of Paris City Council.

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