Panthéon
The Panthéon is located in the Latin Quarter, more or less opposite the Luxembourg Gardens.
It's a beautiful building and well worth a visit. The photo shows the front elevation of the Panthéon.
Originally, the site housed a basilica founded in the 6th century by King Clovis.
The Panthéon's architect was Jacques-Germain Soufflot, who was appointed by Louis XV. Designed initially as a
Church, dedicated to Saint Geneviève, building commenced in 1758, but it was not completed until 1791, nine years
after Soufflot's death.
However, the French Revolutionary government decided to change it from a church to a mausoleum for the bodies of
great Frenchmen. Its use reverted to that of a church twice subsequently, but it has returned to its use as the
final resting place of great Frenchmen, since Vistor Hugo was interred there in 1885.
Among others buried in the Pantheon are Louis Braille, Rousseau, Voltaire, Émile Zola, Louis Pasteur, Marie and
Pierre Curie, and Soufflot himself.
In 1851, Leon Foucault demonstrated the rotation of the Earth with an experiment in the Panthéon, when he
constructed a 67-meter pendulum below the central dome. The pendulum was removed from the Panthéon for a time, but
was returned in 1995.  
Experiment with Foucault's Pendulum at the Pantheon in Paris Giclee Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
Visiting Address:
Place du Panthéon
75005 Paris
Nearest Metro:
Métro: line 10, station Maubert-Mutualité
Opening Hours:
April 1 to September 30 : 10am - 6.30pm
October 1 to March 31 : 10am - 6pm
Last admission 45 min before closing
Closed on January 1, May 1 and December 25
Construction Date:
1758 - 1789
Architect:
Jacques-Germain Soufflot
Website address
http://pantheon.monuments-nationaux.fr/en/
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