page_title: Paris in the 17th century
section_title: University
hierarchical_section_title: Paris in the 17th century / Education / University
caption_attribution_description: Old Sorbonne Before the Fire in 1670 Caption: OLD SORBONNE BEFORE THE FIRE IN 1670.
context_page_description: Paris in the 17th century was the largest city in Europe, with a population of half a million, matched in size only by London. It was ruled in turn by three monarchs; Henry IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV, and saw the building of some of the city's most famous parks and monuments, including the Pont Neuf, the Palais Royal, the newly joined Louvre and Tuileries Palace, the Place des Vosges, and the Luxembourg Garden. It was also a flourishing center of French science and the arts; it saw the founding of the Paris Observatory, the French Academy of Sciences and the first botanical garden in Paris, which also became the first park in Paris open to the public. The first permanent theater opened, the Comédie-Française was founded, and the first French opera and French ballets had their premieres. Paris became the home of the new Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and of some of France's most famous writers, including Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, La Fontaine and Moliere. Urban innovations for the city included the first street lighting, the first public transport, the first building code, and the first new aqueduct since Roman times.
context_section_description: Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin lavished funds on the buildings of the University of Paris;   Richelieu built a magnificent new chapel for the college of Sorbonne, which he headed, while Cardinal Mazarin built the equally-magnificent College of the Six Nations, to house nobles from the most recently added provinces of France, but the educational system of the University, which was primarily a school of theology, was in continual crisis, trying to deal with multiple heresies and challenges to its authority from newly arrived religious orders.   The Sorbonne, the leading college, was challenged by the new College of Clermont, run by the Jesuit order.  The royal government sought to turn the University into a training school for magistrates and state officials, but found that the faculty was only trained in canon, or church law.  A fire in 1670 destroyed much of the old Sorbonne, but fortunately spared the domed chapel.  By the end of the 17th century one-third of the colleges of the University had closed, and the remaining thirty-nine colleges had barely enough students to survive.
caption: In 1670 a fire destroyed much of the old College of Sorbonne, but fortunately spared the chapel.
exif: {}