A little history of House of Heads in Valence

You maybe know Colmar's maison des têtes ("House of Heads"): well, here's the Valence's one! Put up in 1530 for Antoine de Dorne, lawyer at the Valence University, you'll recognize the façade with its little medallions sculpted in the round.

Look at that! Tiny characters carry streamers, with those Latin words: Fortuna operum mortalium. 4 heads represent the winds. Busts in the vaulted corridor look like Greek philosophers or thoughtful emperors crown with laurels.