Origin and history
The Pantheon of Paris, originally conceived as a church dedicated to Saint Geneviève by Louis XV in 1744, was transformed in 1791 by the French Revolution into a secular temple celebrating the great men of the nation. Its neo-classical architecture, inspired by the Pantheon of Rome, was made by Jacques-Germain Soufflot, with a daring dome and a Corinthian-column façade. The pediment bears the motto "To the great men, the grateful Fatherland", reflecting its republican vocation.
Originally, the building was to house the relics of Saint Geneviève, but the Revolution made it a place of civil memory. The first burials, like that of Mirabeau in 1791 (removed shortly thereafter), marked his new role. In the course of the political regimes, the Pantheon oscillated between religious and secular functions, undergoing architectural and decorative changes according to the times.
The monument now houses 83 personalities, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo, and more recently Simone Veil or Josephine Baker. Its architecture, with its three attached domes and its Foucault pendulum, illustrates the scientific and technical advances of its time. The crypt, covering the entire surface of the building, welcomes the tombs in a vaulted and luminous space.
The construction, which began in 1758, was marked by technical challenges, such as the stability of the dome, and by polemics, particularly on the mixture of Gothic, Byzantine and Greco-Roman styles. Soufflot, assisted by Rondelet and Brébion, used unpublished mathematical calculations to ensure the building's strength. The stones, from the quarries of the Paris Basin, were armed with iron to strengthen the structure.
During the Revolution, Quatremère de Quincy modified the building into a republican temple, removing the bell towers and closing the windows to create a solemn atmosphere. Napoleon returned him to the Church in 1806, before the Third Republic definitively consecrated him as a secular pantheon in 1885, with the burial of Victor Hugo.
The Pantheon was also a place of science and symbols: Foucault's pendulum, installed in 1851, showed the rotation of the Earth. The interior decorations, often redesigned, reflect the dominant values of each era, from revolutionary allegories to imperial frescoes, then republican ones. Today, there remains a high place of collective memory, open to the public and managed by the National Monuments Centre.
The pantheonization ceremonies, decided by the President of the Republic, are national events. The latest entries include Germaine Tillion and Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz (2015), Simone Veil (2018), Maurice Genevoix (2020), Joséphine Baker (2021), and the Missak couple and Mélinée Manouchian (2024). These choices reflect a desire to diversify honoured figures, including more women and resistors.
The Pantheon was also the scene of debates about its role and symbolism, especially during regime changes. His cross, several times replaced by flags or statues, embodies these tensions between sacred and secular. Recent restorations, such as the dome in 2015, aim to preserve this emblematic monument, while adapting to contemporary issues, such as accessibility or citizen ceremonies.
Finally, the Pantheon is a living space, hosting temporary exhibitions and tributes, such as the one given to Aimé Césaire in 2011. Its majestic architecture and turbulent history make it a unique place at the crossroads of science, art and national memory.
