University of Paris

The domed chapel of the Sorbonne, seen from its courtyard in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Cardinal Richelieu paid to rebuild the college, and this chapel, begun in 1635 to hold his tomb, is the one building of his reconstruction still standing. Paris has the most broken pedigree here. In 1200 King Philip Augustus exempted its scholars from royal justice, its first official recognition, and a papal bull of 1231 began to shape it into an institution. Robert de Sorbon founded the college that gave the Sorbonne its name in 1253, formalized in 1257. The Revolution closed and abolished the university's schools, it was re-created in 1896, and after 1968 it was split into separate universities, several of which still use this building.