Latin Quarter Student History

The Place Saint-Michel is defined by its massive, neo-Renaissance wall fountain, which rises twenty-six meters high and spans fifteen meters wide against the side of a corner building. Completed in eighteen sixty by architect Gabriel…

The Musée de Cluny is recognizable by its combination of a late fifteenth-century private mansion and the towering, ancient stone ruins of Gallo-Roman thermal baths. Known as the National Museum of the Middle Ages, it stands in the Latin…

The Sorbonne is defined by an eclectic, monumental façade that blends neo-Renaissance and classical architectural styles, constructed between eighteen eighty-three and nineteen oh one. This complex, designed by architect Henri-Paul Nénot,…

The Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève is defined by the hundreds of names of famous authors carved directly into its stone facade. Located at ten, Place du Panthéon, this long, rectangular building was designed by architect Henri Labrouste and…

The Panthéon in Paris is identifiable by its massive neoclassical dome and a front portico modeled after the ancient Pantheon in Rome. Completed in seventeen ninety, the building occupies the site of a former abbey on the Montagne…

The church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont is defined by its layered, three-pediment facade, a design that blends flamboyant Gothic details with Renaissance elements. Tucked on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, this building replaced a smaller…

The Clovis Tower, a stone relic with twelfth-century origins, rises above the surrounding neighborhood as the most prominent feature of the Lycée Henri-IV. This site began as the royal Abbey of Sainte-Geneviève, founded around five hundred…

Place de la Contrescarpe is a circular, cobblestoned square measuring roughly forty meters across at the convergence of five streets, including the market route of Rue Mouffetard. A small island planted with trees and a public fountain…