From the top of the Sainte-Geneviève Mountain, in the hearth of the Latin Quarter, surrounded by schools and universities, the Pantheon overtops the whole city.
During the XIX century, before the construction of the Eiffel tower, the Sacred Heart church and the Montparnasse tower, the Pantheon was the monument that immediately caught the attention of visitors.
The panoramic view from the top of the Pantheon is fantastic and you can grasp at a glance the whole city.
The monument was at the beginning a construction in honour of Sainte Geneviève, the legendary heroin who saved Paris from the barbaric invasions of the V century.

Sainte Genevieve was buried in it on 500 and the building was created to house her tomb.
The Sainte Geneviève Basilica, renamed Pantheon during the French revolution, represents a wonderful example of the architecture of the end of the XVIII century.
The Pantheon is surrounded by the Saint Étienne du Mont church, the Sainte Geneviève bibliotheque, the University Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), the University Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), the town hall of the V arrondissement and the high school Henri IV.
The Pantheon is a neoclassical monument, created by the architect Soufflot who wanted to "bring together the lightness of the gothic architecture and the magnificence of the Greek one".
The architect inspired to the Roman Pantheon to build the dome, the colonnade and the triangular pediment.

The Pantheon enchants for the architectural balance of its dome and for the beauty of its internal decorations that put together christian and republican symbols.
The monument has become nowadays a republican necropolis where the history of France is represented by several scientists, writers, poets, politicians and literary men.
In the middle of the building an oscillation pendulum reproduces Foucault's experiment about the roundness of the Earth.
David d'Angers is the author of the bas-relief in the triangular pediment: the Country, between Freedom and History, distributes crowns to great men.
The golden letters inscription "Aux grands hommes la Patrie reconnaissante" dates back to 1837 and the main portal is decorated with sculptures representing Attila, Sainte Geneviève and the baptism of Clovis.
The crypt houses the tombs of more than 70 famous people, including Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Alexandre Dumas, Jean Moulin, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Louis Braille, Victor Schoelcher (who abolished slavery in French colonies in 1848) and René Cassin, author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.



Useful information

Address:
Place du Panthéon
75005 Paris

Tel.: 01.44.32.18.00

Access:
Cluny La Sorbonne

Hours:
Every day from 10h to 6 p.m

Rates:
Adults: 6,40 €
Reduced: 3,96 €


For information:
http://pantheon.monuments-nationaux.fr/