Sorbonne (building)

Sorbonne
La Sorbonne
Location within Paris
Alternative namesLa Sorbonne or Centre Sorbonne
General information
TypeAcademic
Location1 Rue Victor
Coordinates48°50′55″N 2°20′36″E / 48.8485°N 2.3432°E / 48.8485; 2.3432
Current tenantsSorbonne University, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and Sorbonne Nouvelle University
Completed1253 (1st building)
1635 (2nd building by Jacques Lemercier)
1884 (3rd building by Henri-Paul Nénot)
OwnerChancellerie des Universités de Paris
Design and construction
ArchitectJacques Gondouin
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The name Sorbonne (French: La Sorbonne; /sɔːrˈbɒn/ sor-BON, US also /sɔːrˈbɔːn/ sor-BAWN; French: [sɔʁbɔn] ) is commonly used to refer to the historic University of Paris in Paris, France, or one of its successor institutions (see below). It is also the name of a building in the Latin Quarter of Paris which from 1253 onwards housed the College of Sorbonne, part of one of the first universities in the Western world, later renamed University of Paris and commonly known as "the Sorbonne". The Sorbonne building and the “La Sorbonne” trademark are owned by the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris.

In recent times the name "Sorbonne" came to refer to the group of liberal arts faculties of the University of Paris, in contrast to the vocational faculties of law and medicine. "Sorbonne" is also used to refer to the main building of the University of Paris in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, which houses several faculties created when the university was divided into thirteen autonomous universities in 1970.

Today, the building continues to house the successor universities of the University of Paris, such as:

Sorbonne University is also now the university resulting from the merger on 1 January 2018 of UPMC (Paris VI) and Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV).