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Pantheon - Classical Architecture ,Paris

Pantheon is one of the most eminent specimen of neo classical architecture in Paris that draws hundreds of visitors daily from all over the world. Originally dedicated to the patron saint of Paris, St. Genevieve, the Pantheon abbey has later became the famous burial place of French heroes. Situated on the hill

Montagne Sainte-Genevieve in the 5th arrondissement(official district) of Paris, Pantheon offers a panoramic view of the whole city and an important tourist spot of Paris.

Facts About Pantheon

Pantheon was established by King Louis XV to keep his promise that he made to himself.
In 1744, the king had fallen ill and he vowed that he would rebuild the ruined Abbey of Sainte-Genevieve if he was recovered. After his recovery King Louis XV entrusted Marquis of Maringny with the responsibility of creating a grand edifice.

Marquis of Maringny was a French nobleman who appointed architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot to construct the new glise Sainte-Genevive, now known as Pantheon.

Soufflot had the aim to blend gothic and classical architectural styles in his creation. The architecture of the Pantheon is an early example of Neoclassicism where the portico resembles that of the Pantheon in Rome and there is a small dome at the top. The whole structure was adorned with Corinthian pillars with the interior walls beautifully painted.

In 1758, the foundations were laid but financial difficulties did not let it to be completed before 1789. Soufflet died before the work was finished and his

student Jean-Baptiste Rondelet took over the charge. Though it is said that Jacques-Germain Soufflet's original plan was not followed entirely, nevertheless it became one of the important specimens of Neoclassical architecture in France.

More on Pantheon - Classical Architecture

Since it was completed during the time of French Revolution, the revolutionary government gave the order that it would not be a church, but a mausoleum to keep the remains of great French people.
Twice, it has been converted to church, but has ultimately became the resting place of the great men and women of France.

It was like paying tribute by the nation to the maestros if they are buried in Pantheon. There is a crypt within the Pantheon housing the remains of more than 70 French scholars and maestros.

Votaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, mile Zola, Jean Moulin,Louis Braille, Jean Jaurs are some of the names who were buried in the Pantheon.

In 2002, the coffin of famous French author Alexander Dumas was brought to Pantheon from the original burial ground. The then President Jacques Chirac stated that an injustice has been rectified “with the proper honoring of one of France's greatest authors.”

In 1851, The Pantheon had been the venue of the experiment conducted by physicist Lon Foucault to show the rotation of the Earth by constructing a 67 metre Foucault pendulum beneath the central dome. Later, the pendulum's original iron sphere was brought back to the Panthon from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Mtiers.