Panthéon in Paris
Panthéon in Paris is one of the most famous sights of the French capital, representing the brightest example of French neoclassicism. This majestic architectural structure was originally conceived as a cult – as a church of St. Genevieve, but later turned into a real mausoleum, becoming the tomb of prominent personalities of the country.
Video: Pantheon in Paris
Contents- General information
- History of the Pantheon in Paris
- Architectural features
- Interior decoration
Who is buried in the Pantheon - Interesting facts
- Opening times and ticket prices
- How to get there
General Information
The Panthéon in Paris is among the recognizable architectural symbols of the French capital, along with the same Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the seriously fire-ravaged Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris in April 2019. It is mesmerizing in its majesty, captured on postcards and other souvenirs. Pictures of the landmark adorn many publications, and on them it is most often filmed in the evening, when the lighting is turned on, giving the building a special beauty and appeal.
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In the famous tomb found rest cardinals and presidents, admirals and marshals, politicians and bankers, philosophers and scientists, writers and travelers, actors and artists. Once inside, many expect to see long rows of graves. But instead they plunge into a special atmosphere, solemn and at the same time calm and peaceful. The graves themselves have been moved to the crypt, which can be reached by a staircase behind the former altar. The Pantheon is a little dusky and cool even in the summer heat, and examining its interior decoration, decorated with valuable relics of different eras, you realize that this is how the chambers of her majesty of History, immortalized in the personalities of prominent figures of the past, should look like.
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History of the Pantheon in Paris
The Pantheon in Paris owes its appearance to King Louis XV, nicknamed the Beloved. More precisely, the disease that struck him in 1744. At that time there was a war for the Austrian succession, the monarch confidently led his army to victory over the enemy. Suddenly fell ailment manifested itself in a high fever, which then did not know how to knock down, and it did not subside for several days. The king, who was in a semi-conscious state, felt that he was dying, and appealed to the protector of all suffering – St. Genevieve. Louis vowed that if he survived, he would build a beautiful temple in honor of the intercessor. And a miracle happened: His Majesty recovered. However, the favorite of the king, Duchess Marie-Anne de Chateauroux, caught from him an infection, the onslaught of disease did not withstand the onslaught of disease. The death of his mistress so saddened the monarch that he completely forgot about this vow. True, grieved not long, soon finding a new lady of the heart in the person of the Marquise de Pompadour.
.https://trevaladvisor.com/” alt=””/>‘ France, but also throughout the world, being an example of the classical school. This is despite the fact that it combines several styles simultaneously – in particular, Gothic, Classical, Greco-Roman – with a clear dominance of features of Greek antiquity..The former Cathedral of St. Genevieve has become a model for architects from other countries, inspiring their own projects. Thus, the features of the majestic tomb, especially its dome, which has a diameter of 23 meters, are easily guessed in the buildings of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg and the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
.The main facade of the structure is decorated with a portico with Corinthian columns, crowned in turn by a triangular pediment by David d’Angers. The central bas-relief of the pediment depicts the Motherland, maternally presenting the crowns of freedom to her children. To her right is History, represented by Napoleon I Bonaparte and other outstanding personalities of France, and to the left are scientists, philosophers, writers and artists. To name just a few names, Gaspard Monge, Marie François Xavier Bichat, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Pierre Corneille, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Voltaire, and Jacques-Louis David.
.In the central part of the Pantheon is the famous Foucault pendulum, installed in 1851 at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III, experimentally proving the daily rotation of the planet Earth on its axis. After 150 years, the brainchild of physicist and astronomer Léon Foucault, weighing 28 kilograms and fixed under the dome with steel wire, which allowed it to rotate freely, was dismantled and reinstalled.
.Interior
In front of one of the walls of the Pantheon is a plaster sculpture by François-Léon Sicard entitled “Convent National”, and on the wall itself can be seen the painting “To Glory”. It depicts the attack of heavy cavalry – cuirassiers, so fierce that it seems as if they are led to victory by death itself under the waving banner. While inside the Pantheon, one cannot help but notice another statue. It is on the left, and it is a statue of Joan of Arc riding a horse. In addition, there are several other works – panels and paintings – dedicated to the Maid of Orleans.
.Above the dome of the Pantheon in Paris, there is an observation deck, which offers a stunning panorama of the French capital. Many tourists come here specifically to enjoy a bird’s eye view of the city on the Seine. The fact that there are 206 steps to climb there and back does not stop them at all.
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Who is buried in the Pantheon
At the entrance to the tomb is engraved the inscription, “To great men – grateful Fatherland”. And indeed, the last resting place here found a whole lot of famous personalities who made a notable contribution to strengthening the statehood and defense of France, in the history, culture, science and literature of the country.
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The first person buried in this mausoleum was Count Honoré Mirabeau, a zealous revolutionary and unsurpassed orator. It happened in 1791, but three years later the remains of the named figure with shame reburied in the cemetery for criminals, not even bothering to install a tombstone on the grave. The reason was the evidence of connection of the Count with King Louis XVI, executed by revolutionaries on January 21, 1793, which provided the leader of the Jacobins Jean-Paul Marat. However, the posthumous fate of Marat himself was no better, and in many ways even worse. After July 13, 1793, the fiery figure of the revolution stabbed the noblewoman Charlotte Corday, an ardent admirer of the Girondists, he was also buried in the Pantheon, but soon the remains were taken out of there and did not even began to betray the earth, but simply thrown into the ditch. The Count himself was rehabilitated and, interestingly, he is now in line for reburial in the Paris tomb.
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The cases of Mirabeau and Marat became a good lesson for the future, so the French decided to henceforth more carefully select candidates for burial, so that then do not carry back and forth the bodies of the dead. Thus, the famous writer Alexander Dumas-father was reburied in the Pantheon only in 2002, that is, 132 years after his death. This period was more than enough time to be sure that this outstanding personality was worthy of being laid to rest in such an honorable place.
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In 1791 and 1794, the tombs of respectively François-Marie Arouet, better known by his pseudonym Voltaire, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau appeared in the mausoleum. Although the wooden coffins of both philosophers were painted and covered with gold leaf, this did not save the wood and they rotted. It is known that Rousseau’s body was stolen by religious fanatics in 1815 and thrown into a pit of lime. Voltaire’s remains were also rumored to have been stolen, but this information is officially denied.
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The great French novelist Victor Hugo, Cardinal Giovanni-Battista Caprara, politicians Emile Zola and Jean Baptiste Pierre Bevier, eminent physicist Pierre Curie, humanist Henri Grégoire, mathematician Gaspard Monge, creator of Braille for the blind Louis Braille, assassinated French President Marie François Sadi Carnot, Marshal Jean Lannes, General Pierre Garnier de Laboissière, abolitionist Victor Schelcher, Nobel Peace Prize winner René Cassin, heroes of the French Resistance in World War II Pierre Brossolette, Jean Zé and Germaine Thillon – and this is by no means a complete list of prominent people buried in the Paris tomb at different times. Among them are only three women: physicist Maria Sklodowska-Curie, who with her husband Pierre Curie became the discoverers of radioactivity, politician and fighter for women’s rights Simone Veil and chemist Sophie Bertlot, buried with her husband, politician and chemist Marcelin Bertlot. Among the women whose names are immortalized in the Pantheon, often called and niece of General de Gaulle, a member of the Resistance Geneviève de Gaulle-Antognoz. But in the mausoleum there is only a handful of earth from her grave, as relatives were against the transfer of the remains here, so in this case, we can not talk about a full-fledged burial..
The architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot, the same one who designed the church of St. Genevieve, which later became the Pantheon, also found his final resting place here. He was reburied here in 1829.
.Interesting facts
- Swiss Jean-Jacques Rousseau is the only foreigner buried in France’s national mausoleum. Researchers still cannot agree on why such an exception was made for him. During the French Revolution, most of the Pantheon’s windows were bricked up. The revolutionaries decided that the tomb of great men was not a place where there should be much light.
- In 2005, the mausoleum was penetrated by activists of the organization Untergunther (“Cultural Guerrillas”). And not with the purpose of stealing or damaging anything, but in order to… fix the clock, which had not worked for half a century. With the task they brilliantly coped, but the management of the Pantheon did not appreciate their impulse and filed a lawsuit, which safely lost.
Opening hours and ticket prices
You can get to the Pantheon by public transportation. The nearest metro stations are Maubert-Mutualité and Cardinal Lemoine (line 10). Buses #84 and 89 go to the Pantheon stop, buses #21, 27, 38 and 85 go to the Luxembourg stop.
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