The Sorbonne
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The Sorbonne originates from the 1293 and was created by Robert de Sorbon. It became very fast the center of Christian theology; represent students from the entire Europe, Asia and even Africa. Among the lecturer we can state Franciscan Saint Bonaventura and the Dominicans Saint Albertus Magnus and Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Its political function was determinative in the assurance of the Templars on the part of Philip the Fair, or of Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years' War. It unlike the Reformation and illuminist philosophy.
The medieval buildings were substituted by a wider Sorbonne, under the impulse of its rector, cardinal Richelieu, who laid the foundation stone in 1627. He devoted himself to the chapel; he entrusted Jacques Lemercier, first architect of the king, with the realization of it. The main facade, of Jesuitic style, faces a square built in that epoch, today called "place de la Sorbonne". The side facade, onto the courtyard of honor, has a fine arrangement in steps: staircases, columns supporting a triangular pediment, north transept, dome. The interior of the chapel was deprived, during the revolution, of wood coverings, sculptures, paintings, and altars. The medallions with the Fathers of the Church, painted by Philippe de Champaigne on the dome pedantries are left, and above all the funeral monument of cardinal Richelieu, a magnificent tomb in white marble, sculptured by Girardon. Among the buildings of the classical epoch, only the chapel has remained intact. The university is a work by Nenot between 1885 and 1907, under the Third Republic. The Sorbonne is remarkable above the entire tower-shaped astronomic observatory.
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