Panthéon

On the pediment read the words “To the Great Men, a Grateful Fatherland.” Discover their stories while admiring the neoclassical architecture of this former church, shaped in the form of a Greek cross, and today a mausoleum.

A Shrine

Set atop the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève hill, the Pantheon towers over
the Left Bank. When the architect Soufflot designed it over 200 years ago, he hoped it would rival the Pantheon in Rome. The edifice was transformed in the 19th century into a mausoleum dedicated to those who had made the country proud. The crypt holds for example the remains of Victor Hugo, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire, as well as those of Pierre and Marie Curie, the first woman to be enshrined here.

If today it is obligatory to hold French citizenship to be interred here, that wasn’t always the case. Which is why you will find the tombs of Italian, Swiss and Dutch allies, honoured by Napoleon Bonaparte. Entombing more than half of the people found here, his First French Empire sealed the Pantheon’s vocation as a memorial site.

Napoleon left a deep impression on Paris and its region. Discover the man behind the legend.

A Scientific and Aesthetic Experience

The nave also holds a 67-metre-long pendulum, the remains of one of the most important scientific discoveries in the world. In 1851, the physicist Léon Foucault chose the Pantheon as the site from which to demonstrate the Earth’s rotation. And you can still witness this historic experiment today.

From April through October, the restored Dome and its viewing platform are open. But you’ll need to summon your courage and be prepared to climb 200 steps to get there! It’s worth the effort, the view over Paris is breathtaking.

Stand above Paris from the monuments with a view over the city.