Welcome to the website of the Direction d’Études of Renaissance Art History of the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne), Philological and Historic Studies section. The aim of this website is to inform researchers/scholars, students and the general public about the programs and activities of research this chair is developing, with a special focus on early modern architecture (15th to 17th centuries). A presentation of the activities from 2004 onwards allows the public to follow the different research themes that have been developed, and the innovative perspectives that are fostered by an intense international scholarly debate. The desire to exchange points of view leads to a deep interest in the different scientific methods of approach developed in the many scholarly communities around the world. Our wish is that this website may become a place of dialogue and international exchanges, and we hope that it may help to promote activities capable of stimulating new considerations on the architecture of the early modern era.