Collège des Bernardins

The Collège des Bernardins was founded in the middle of the thirteenth century by the Abbot of Clairvaux, Stephen of Lexington, to serve as a rigorous intellectual hub for Cistercian monks. Because the site was originally a marshy, flood-prone area near the Bièvre River, the monks had to drive heavy oak piles deep into the ground to ensure their ambitious structure would not sink under its own weight. This foundation remains a hidden engineering marvel beneath the floors of a building that once trained the brightest theological minds in medieval Europe.