The Paris Panthéon

Worshipping the Republic at an Almost Church

Like the Pantheon in Rome, the Paris Panthéon has a mixed history, although not one that takes it from paganism to Christianity. Rather, the former Ste. Geneviève Church became, not long after the French Revolution, a tribute to notable secular figures, a number of whom happen to be interred in the basement.

From God to Parisians

The Paris  Panthéon looks like a church, though. What happened was that Louis XV had apparently sought Saint Genevieve’s intercession during an illness. Having recovered, he planned to rebuild Ste. Geneviève Church, as the earlier one had been damaged. Not long after the new version was finished, though, the French Revolution took place. Not exactly big advocates of the church, the revolutionary government turned the new Ste. Geneviève Church into a mausoleum, of sorts, for French notables.

Saint Genevieve, who died in 512 A.D., is the patron saint of Paris. She purportedly only ate twice a week to show her dedication to God. Similar to Joan of Arc, who heard voices many years later, Saint Genevieve experienced visions.

Visitors to the Paris Panthéon get a quick history of post-revolutionary France in lofty surroundings along with a little science lesson: Foucault’s pendulum is here, swinging from the Panthéon’s dome.

What Bashful Adventurers Might Especially Like

• The Museum Pass works here.
• Look for the graves of Victor Hugo, author of Les Misérables and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, scientists Pierre and Marie Curie, Louis Braille (whose grave, interestingly enough, is not translated into braille, Alexandre Dumas, author of the Three Musketeers and the Count of Monte Cristo, and journalist and politician Jean-Paul Marat, who famously was killed in his bathtub in 1793. (The actual bathtub can be found at wax museum Musée Grévin.)
• This seems like a much-less-crowded alternative to the Catacombs and Notre Dame Cathedral.
• ‘Pantheon’ derives from the Greek words for ‘all’ and ‘god’ (pan + theos).

—Lori Tripoli

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Planning a visit to Paris? You might like these posts:

• Paris in Four Days
• Paris: This Is the End
• Beneath Paris
• Don’t Skip Sainte Chapelle
• The Book to Carry while Cruising Paris

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