About miniature metal buildings. While the practice of architecture can be traced back to the first architectural treatise by Roman architect and author Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, the education of an architect is rather recent in the history of our profession. Morphing from the French Ecole Royale des Arts into the famous Parisian institution of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, this 19th century schooling became the world’s first educational system to train architects. Based on a rigorous curriculum where the professor was master, most future graduates were expected to serve their professional careers completing governmental projects under France’s President Napoleon III.