Panthéon

The Panthéon came about because of a vow that King Louis XV made to God in 1744; should he recover from his illness, he would build a replacement for the ruined church of the Abbey of St. Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. He did recover and Jacques-Germain Soufflot was commissioned to design it.

Construction of the Panthéon began in 1757 in the neoclassical style, its overall design being that of a Greek cross with massive Corinthian columns. It had a triple dome decorated with stunning frescoes by the famous artist Antoine Gros. But though the foundation was laid in 1758, economic problems meant that work progressed slowly and Soufflot didn’t get to see the end of his project as he died in 1780. He was replaced by his pupil Jean-Baptiste Rondelet, but his plans were not entirely followed, as Rondelet had different ideas.

The remodeled Abbey of St. Genevieve was completed just in time (1790) to see the beginnings of the French Revolution. But when statesman Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, died a year later, the Revolutionist government changed the church into a mausoleum for the burial of great Frenchmen, the first of whom to be interred was Mirabeau.

Since this time, it swapped between being a church and a burial place for martyrs and brilliant French citizens, and it is the latter that it continues to be, as well as a meeting house for the great intellectuals of France.

It was here that, in 1851, physicist Léon Foucault constructed a 219.8 ft (67m) Foucault pendulum underneath the central dome to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. The original pendulum is now kept in the Musée des Arts et Métiers, but a replica is displayed at the Panthéon.

The Panthéon has a vast crypt in a subterranean chamber, the entrance of which has an inscription that reads “AUX GRANDS HOMMES LA PATRIE RECONNAISSANTE" (“To the great men, the grateful homeland"), and those buried here were acknowledged by the Nation for the honor they brought it.

Among those worthy are writers Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and Émile Zola, and a high-profile member of the French Resistance, Jean Moulin, as well as Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Polish-French physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity, Louis Braille, who invented Braille, Jean Jaurès, a French Socialist leader, and Soufflot, the architect of the Panthéon.

More recently, the coffin of Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870), the author of The Three Musketeers, was carried to the Panthéon in a great ceremony (2002), and in 2007, President Jacques Chirac unveiled a plaque there recognizing 2,600 people who saved the lives of Jews during the Second World War.

One of the most important architectural achievements of its time and one of the greatest Neoclassical monuments, the Panthéon is a true masterpiece. Its view is quite fantastic, too; you can see almost all of Paris

The closest Métro is Cardinale Lemoine and the closest RER station is Luxembourg station on line B. Photos are only allowed in some areas.

Opening Hours

April 1 to September 30: 10 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
October 1 to March 31: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Admission

Adult: €7.50
Reduced : €4.50

Minors under 18, 18-25 years old EU citizens and the disabled: free entrance.

Contact

Phone: +33 1 4432 1800

• Official website of Panthéon

• Panthéon at Wikipedia