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An international interdisciplinary colloquium will be held on 21-22 June 2017 in the Observatoire de Paris and in the Centre de Recherche du château de Versailles, to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Observatoire—as well as of the drawing of its Meridian Line on solstice day, 21 June 1667. The event furnishes an opportunity to examine the political and courtly context of the foundation, and the dissemination of a Parisian model of academies and observatories throughout Europe in the following two centuries. At the crossword of the history of European courts, the history of science, and the history of architecture, Claude Perrault’s design of the building intended to stage royal power while attracting many scholars and famous visitors. In addition to drawing the Meridian line for determining the longitudes, the Observatory was intended to serve as a storehouse of scientific artifacts and a monument to Louis XIV’s glory— celebrated by Colbert as the "Triumphal Arch for the conquest of the earth. Observatory for the heavens." The Observatory contributed greatly to the Advancement of mathematical astronomy. Papers illustrating such contribution will present new insights on Parisian science during the 1670s, based on the correspondence between Leibniz, who lived in Paris from 1672 up to 1676, and Huygens; the role of J.-D. Cassini; the 1717 visit of tsar Peter the Great to Versailles and to the Observatory; the mathematical works of Lagrange, native of Turin who turned Prussian and then French academician; Le Verrier's calculations that led to the discovery of the planet Neptune; and the forty-year long friendship of between Arago and Humboldt. As a contemporary counterpoint, the colloquium will highlight several large scale international projects involving the Observatory's community today, including the design of future telescopes, revolutionizing metrology with atomic clocks, space missions deep into the solar system, and exploration of dark matter and the large-scale structure of the universe.