Sorbonne Chapel

The Church of the Sorbonne stands out for its high, weathered dome that marks the skyline of the Latin Quarter. Cardinal Richelieu commissioned the building in sixteen thirty-five to serve as his personal burial site and as a chapel for the university faculty. He insisted on a design that balanced the classical proportions of Italian architecture with a monumental French scale. Richelieu rests here today, interred beneath a marble tomb sculpture that depicts him collapsing into the arms of the church.