Sorbonne Grand amphitheatre

The Sorbonne Grand Amphitheatre is defined by its massive, curved stage wall, dominated by the expansive mural titled The Sacred Wood. Painted by Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes between eighteen eighty-seven and eighteen eighty-nine, this work spans over twenty-five meters in length. It depicts allegorical figures representing Literature, Science, and the Arts gathered in a wooded landscape, intended to mirror the intellectual pursuits housed within these walls. The hall itself, inaugurated on August fifth, eighteen eighty-nine, is a centerpiece of the university complex rebuilt by architect Henri-Paul Nénot in the late nineteenth century.