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Pantheon In Paris

Resting Place for Great People of France

Built in the 18th century, the Panthéon in Paris has an 83-meter-high dome and a facade modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. The Panthéon is the burial place of the great men of France, such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and the Curies, who are buried in the underground chambers of the Panthéon.

In the 18th century, King Louis XV ordered the construction of a shrine in Paris to honor Saint Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris who blessed him to recover from his illness.

The construction of the Neoclassical Style Panthéon was completed in 1791, coinciding with the outbreak of the French Revolution, which changed the function of the Panthéon from a religious building to a pantheon of the great men and women of the French nation.

Located in the Latin Quarter of Paris, the Panthéon, with its 83m High Dome, holds the city’s skyline on the left bank of the Seine, together with the Les Invalides and the Eiffel Tower.

Manywhere Trivia:
The front facade of the Panthéon is designed exactly after the Pantheon in Rome.

Triangular Pediment

The nave of the Panthéon in Paris has a wide view, with 52 Corinthian columns supporting the building’s Giant Dome, Wall Murals around the Nave illustrate the life of Saint Geneviève. Prominently displayed in the hall is the National Convention, created by French sculptor in 1924.

Since Victor Hugo’s funeral was held at the Panthéon, it has been the official burial place of great Frenchmen. French Enlightenment leaders Voltaire and Rousseau, French writers Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Zola, and the famous scientists the Curies are all buried in The Crypt at the Panthéon.

Manywhere Tips:
Voltaire and Rousseau were placed near the entrance of the crypt, with their tombs facing each other, even though they were rivals, almost enemies at their time.

In 1851 French physicist Léon Foucault used a pendulum to prove the motion of the Earth’s rotation at the Panthéon. The Foucault Pendulum he used at that time still hangs below the dome in the Panthéon nave today.