Unless you are a teacher or a student, normally you will not be allowed to enter this building except when there is an art exhibition – and... there is now one ongoing.
This building
houses the Faculty of Law of the Sorbonne University and you find it on Place
du Panthéon. It seems that what you can see from the Place was part of an end-of-the-18th
century project which also included what was supposed to become the Sainte-Geneviève
church, but which finally became the Panthéon, with J-G Soufflot as architect (he died
before the end of the work). I wrote more about it here. ... and I wrote more about the Sorbonne University here.
As I officially
went for the art exhibition, I will of course show something of it. The artist’s
name is Sophie Verger and she specialises today in sculptures inspired by
animals, often in surprising postures. We can find some outdoor examples in the
courtyard….
… and
others on an upper floor.
To reach
this upper floor, you have to climb some amazing stairs.
Actually,
for me, this was especially the chance to see the interior architecture of this
building.
There is another entrance to the building, from Rue Saint Jacques – closed...
... but you can
reach it from the inside and visit what is referred to as “Galerie Soufflot” –
see also top picture. I haven’t managed
to find any information about this part of the building – including the stairs
-, but, looking on different city plans and on the building material used, it
seems obvious that it has been added later during the 19th century.
There are
some other nice stairs also in the older parts of the building … and you can
find the statue of Jacques Cujas (1522-90), a prominent legal expert, scholar
and teacher….
… who gave his
name to a recent addition to the building complex, along Rue Cujas - the photo to the right, below. Once again,
I haven’t been able to find the name of the architect – I guess in any case it
would be better not to mention or remember it. Well, the real “guilty” ones are
of course they who made such decisions in the 1960’ or 70’s. … and, actually, the building is nicer on the inside than on the outside.
2 comments:
I hope an exhibition will be on when I next visit Paris. Love those stairs though they'll be so very difficult to climb!
The façade of this building is awesome! Maybe it does not look as imposing during the day as it does at night...
Every time my sister and I came back - in the dead of night - from downton Paris, we passed by it. And everytime, the same feeling: grandeur...beauty...the weight of history...
Thank you so much, Peter for showing us the inside. Great photos as always!
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