Pantheon in Paris

The Pantheon is an impressive neoclassical edifice in which the remains of the most illustrious Frenchmen and women are kept. When King Louis XV recovered from a malady in 1744 he promised that he would rebuild the ruined church of Sainte-Genevieve in Paris’s Latin Quarter.

Work got underway but by the time the building was completed the revolution had transformed the political landscape of France.

The new government ordered that the Pantheon be rededicated as a ‘Temple to Reason’ and that henceforth it would be used not for religious purposes but as a mausoleum for the greatest French intellectuals.

The inscription carved above the entrance reads; ‘To great men the Nation is grateful.' To be buried in the Pantheon at the time was the highest honour France offered to its citizens. Among those buried in the Pantheon are: Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Jean Moulin and Louis Braille. In 1995 Marie Curie became the first woman to be awarded the honour.

The building itself is vastly proportioned; 110 meters long, 85 meters wide and 84 meters high. In terms of appearance, history and what it has come to represent the Pantheon is one of the most impressive buildings in France.

Hotels close to the Pantheon:

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