La Sorbonne

text description

This is the Sorbonne /sɔʁbɔn/, one of the buildings that make up the Universities of Paris (Université de Paris). It is located in the Latin Quarter, just off the boulevard Saint Michel, right across from the rue de Vaugirard.

The Sorbonne, named after Robert de Sorbon, the French theologian who founded it in 1257, was the most famous of the 40 or so colleges that constituted the original University of Paris in the 13th and 14th centuries. Even today, although it is only one of the thirteen faculties that make up the modern Universities of Paris, its name is occasionally still used to refer to the entire university system in the city. The modern Sorbonne includes the Paris III (Sorbonne nouvelle) and IV (Paris-Sorbonne) faculties, which offer programs in the liberal arts (especially languages).

The Sorbonne has its own Web site, also, if you read French.

This photograph was taken late on an April afternoon, from the plaza right in front of the Sorbonne.

Click directly on the photo to see a smaller version (half this size). Photographed in April, 2002.