The present paper is aimed at presenting an overview of the studies on cerebrovascular diseases made by Charcot and his collaborators and later by the successive Professors in the Chair. The significance of studies from abroad is also briefly reviewed. Charcot's major interest in the field was cerebral haemorrhage and the evolution of the ideas about the aneurysms of Charcot-Bouchard is reviewed. During Charcot's Professorship, Henri Duret gave one of the first modern anatomical studies of the cerebral arteries. The study of lacunes was one among numerous important contributions of Pierre Marie to Neurology. Later the works of Charles Foix and his collaborators on cerebral infarction were prominent. Since the fifties, pathological, physiopathological and therapeutic studies have been one of the main flow of research in the Chair. Brief accounts of studies on hypertensive encephalopathy and vascular accidents of the spinal cord are given.
