The feats of an ant, a turtle and a school

After the conflict between Protestants and Catholics (1570's), the city of Tarbes was left uninhabitable.  With the population gone, the streets were taken over with weeds.  Among those who wanted to reconstruct the city were the marquis of Ossun who decided to build a vast residency with a stone wall around it.  In 1633, the property was sold to the city of Tarbes to start a boarding school.  

Today, it's a campus with 900 students.  The sidewalk of the rue Ramond runs alongside part of the stone wall.  One of the entrances is walled in, and behind bars, engraved in Latin:

STET DOMUS HOEC DONEC FLUCTUS FORMICA MARINOS EBIBAT ET TOTUM TESTUDO PERAMBULET ORBEM 1699

Translation : "May this house remain standing until an ant drinks the ocean waves and a turtle complets a trip around the world 1699" 

Must say, it's still standing after almost 400 years of teenagers.