Pantheon de Paris
The Pantheon is a neoclassical monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, originally built as a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve and now serving as a secular mausoleum for distinguished French citizens. Designed by Jacques-Germain Soufflot and constructed between 1758 and 1790, it stands on the Montagne Sainte-Genevieve in the Latin Quarter and is crowned by one of the most ambitious domes in 18th-century European architecture. Its crypt contains the remains of over eighty figures fundamental to French history, science, and culture, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, and Emile Zola.
At a glance
- Type
- State mausoleum; originally a church
- Period
- Built 1758-1790; secularised 1791
- Style
- Neoclassical
- Location
- Place du Pantheon, 75005 Paris, France
- Coordinates
- 48.8462 N, 2.3442 E
- Architect
- Jacques-Germain Soufflot
- Current use
- National monument and mausoleum; managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux
- Designation
- Monument historique (listed 1928)
Overview
The Pantheon stands in the Latin Quarter on the Montagne Sainte-Genevieve, at the centre of the Place du Pantheon that was subsequently named after it. The edifice was built between 1758 and 1790 from designs by Jacques-Germain Soufflot, at the behest of King Louis XV, who intended it as a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve, Paris’s patron saint. After the death of the Revolutionary statesman Honore Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, in 1791, the Constituent Assembly voted to transform the building into a secular mausoleum for France’s greatest citizens, a role it has occupied ever since.
History
King Louis XV commissioned the church in 1744 after recovering from a serious illness, fulfilling a vow to rebuild the dilapidated Abbey of Saint Genevieve. Soufflot’s radical design, a Greek cross plan beneath a triple-shell dome modelled partly on St Paul’s Cathedral in London and the Hotel des Invalides, broke ground in 1758, but the building was not completed until 1790. Neither Soufflot nor Louis XV lived to see it finished. The Revolution converted it almost immediately into a lay pantheon; it oscillated between church and secular use until 1885, when the state funeral of Victor Hugo permanently established its republican identity.
What you see
The Pantheon’s facade features a hexastyle Corinthian portico directly inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, surmounted by a triangular pediment with a relief by David d’Angers (1837). Inside, the vast nave is decorated with monumental paintings by Puvis de Chavannes depicting the life of Saint Genevieve and scenes from French history. The triple-shell dome, 83 metres tall, was a technical tour de force for its era and was used by Leon Foucault in 1851 to demonstrate Earth’s rotation with his famous pendulum. The crypt beneath holds the remains of more than eighty luminaries in sober, vaulted galleries.
Cultural significance
The Pantheon is the embodiment of French republican values: the idea that the state honours merit and service to the nation regardless of birth. Each new interment, most recently Simone Veil and her husband Antoine in 2018, is a political and cultural event debated at the highest levels of the French Republic. As an architectural landmark, Soufflot’s dome marked a pivotal moment in the transition from Baroque to Neoclassicism in European monumental architecture.
Practical information
Open daily; closed on 1 January, 1 May, and 25 December. Admission tickets available online at the Centre des monuments nationaux website. The crypt is included in the standard ticket. Guided tours in French and English are offered regularly. A temporary dome access programme allows visitors to climb to the colonnade surrounding the dome for panoramic views over Paris. Check official website for current hours and availability.
Getting there
The closest Metro station is Cardinal Lemoine (line 10) or Maubert-Mutualite (line 10), each about 10 minutes on foot. RER B stops at Luxembourg, a 5-minute walk through the Jardin du Luxembourg. Bus lines 21, 27, 38, 82, 84, 85, and 89 serve the Place du Pantheon or nearby stops. The building is easily combined with a visit to the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Saint-Etienne-du-Mont church immediately adjacent.