Pantheon

The Panthéon site in Paris has a rich history, with a succession of monuments occupying it. The site was once the location of the forum of the Roman town of Lutetia, and was also the original burial place of Saint Genevieve, a key figure in Parisian history. In 508, King Clovis of the Franks built a church on the site, which was later rededicated to Saint Genevieve, becoming the center of the Abbey of Saint Genevieve, a hub of religious learning in the Middle Ages. The church housed Saint Genevieve's relics and was a site for processions during times of danger.

In 1744, King Louis XV promised to replace the dilapidated church of the Abbey of St Genevieve with a grander building if he recovered from his illness. The reconstruction and enlargement of the church began ten years later, in 1755, under the direction of Abel-François Poisson, who chose Jacques-Germain Soufflot as the architect. Soufflot had studied classical architecture in Rome and designed the church in the form of a Greek cross with a monumental dome over the center and a classical portico with Corinthian columns.

The design was modified several times over the years, and construction proceeded slowly due to economic problems. Soufflot died in 1780 and was replaced by his student Jean-Baptiste Rondelet. The Abbey of St. Genevieve was finally completed in 1790, shortly after the beginning of the French Revolution.

The building is 110 meters long by 84 meters wide, and 83 meters high, with a crypt of the same size beneath. The massive dome was supported by pendentives rested upon four massive pillars, which were strengthened with a system of iron rods, a predecessor of modern reinforced buildings. The dome is actually three domes fitting within each other, and concealed buttresses inside the walls give additional support to the dome. In the 21st century, a major restoration project was carried out to replace the deteriorating iron rods.

The Church of Saint Genevieve was unfinished inside when the French Revolution started in 1789. In 1790, it was proposed by the Marquis de Vilette to transform the church into a temple dedicated to liberty, based on the Pantheon in Rome, and to use it as a burial place for famous people. The idea was officially adopted after the death of The Comte de Mirabeau, a prominent figure in the Revolution. Mirabeau's funeral was held in the church and his tomb became the altar of liberty. The ashes of several revolutionaries were later placed there, but the government eventually decreed that only those who had been dead for at least ten years could be buried there. The church was renovated to make it darker and more solemn and its religious ornaments were replaced with patriotic statues and murals.

During Napoleon Bonaparte's reign, he signed a Concordat with the Pope, agreeing to return church properties, including the Panthéon. While the Panthéon continued to host important events, such as celebrations of Napoleon's victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, the crypt remained the final resting place for distinguished French figures. The church's secular and religious aspects were combined when Antoine-Jean Gros was commissioned to decorate the interior of the cupola, depicting Genevieve's ascension to heaven alongside significant French leaders. Under Napoleon's rule, forty-one notable Frenchmen, including military officers and high-ranking officials, were interred in the crypt.

After Napoleon's fall, Louis XVIII of France restored the Panthéon to the Catholic Church, including the crypt, which was consecrated in the presence of the king. The church underwent further changes, including the replacement of the sculpture on the pediment and the redecoration of the dome's pendentives by François Gérard. Jean-Antoine Gros also modified his fresco to replace Napoleon with Louis XVIII, as well as figures of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The crypt was closed to visitors, and the relics of Saint Genevieve were restored to a neighboring church.

Louis Philippe I became the French monarch after the 1830 Revolution, and the Pantheon was reopened as a church with minor changes. The Second French Republic, which succeeded him in 1848, renamed it "The Temple of Humanity" and planned to adorn it with murals, but the Church protested and had a Foucault Pendulum removed. Louis Napoléon staged a coup and became Emperor, returning the Pantheon to the Church with the title "National Basilica" and adding sculptures to honor Saint Genevieve's life. The crypt remained closed to the public throughout these changes.

The Basilica endured damage from German artillery during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and sustained further harm during the Paris Commune in May 1871. The building operated as a church under conservative governments in the early years of the Third Republic, but lacked adornment until the 1874 interior redecoration featuring works by distinguished artists such as Puvis de Chavannes, Alexandre Cabanel, and Antoine-Auguste-Ernest Hébert. In 1881, the Church was converted back into a mausoleum, and literary figures like Victor Hugo and Émile Zola were buried there. The Third Republic governments decreed that the building be adorned with sculptures and murals representing French greatness, including works such as The National Assembly and Victory Leading the Armies of the Republic.

The Fourth Republic (1948-1958) honored five individuals in the Panthéon, including two physicists, a colonial administrator, an abolitionist, and the inventor of Braille. The Fifth Republic, under President Charles de Gaulle, buried Resistance leader Jean Moulin first, followed by modern figures such as Nobel laureate René Cassin, physicist and chemist Marie Curie, writer André Malraux, politician Simone Veil, and Josephine Baker, who became the first Black woman to receive the honor in 2021.

Dome

Completed in 1790, the dome of Les Invalides was designed to rival those of St. Peter's Basilica and St Paul's Cathedral. The 83-meter-high stone dome is made up of three domes, with the painted ceiling visible from below. Initially planned to be topped with a statue of Saint Genevieve, it now bears a cross. Jean-Antoine Gros' painting, the Apotheosis of Saint Genevieve, is visible from beneath the dome, with the four pendentives supporting the dome decorated with paintings by François Gérard depicting Glory, Death, The Nation, and Justice. The scene represents important French kings and the re-establishment of the church after the French Revolution.

Facade

The east facade and peristyle of the Panthéon, constructed in 1837, imitates a Greek temple with Corinthian columns and pedimental sculpture created by David d'Angers. The pediment depicts "The Nation" awarding crowns to great men from various fields, with Napoleon Bonaparte and soldiers on the right and scientists and statesmen like Voltaire and Lafayette on the left. The bas-reliefs below the peristyle, commissioned during the Revolution, symbolize "Public Education" and "Patriotic Devotion." The original windows of the facade were replaced to create a darker and more solemn atmosphere once the church was transformed into a mausoleum.

Narthex

In the Western Nave, the primary adornment consists of a sequence of paintings that commence in the Narthex. These artworks portray the lives of Saint Denis, the esteemed patron saint of Paris, as well as a longer series that narrates the life of Saint Genevieve. These paintings were created by prominent 19th-century history painters, such as Puvis de Chavannes, Alexandre Cabanel, and Jules Eugène Lenepveu. The Southern and Northern Nave's paintings continue this series by depicting Christian heroes of France, such as Charlemagne, Clovis, Louis IX of France, and Joan of Arc. Furthermore, from 1906 to 1922, the renowned Panthéon was home to Auguste Rodin's iconic sculpture, The Thinker.

Foucault pendulum

Physicist Léon Foucault exhibited the Earth's rotation in 1851 using a 67-meter pendulum that he constructed underneath the central dome. The original sphere from the pendulum was showcased temporarily at the Panthéon during the 1990s while the Musée des Arts et Métiers underwent renovations, starting in 1995. The original pendulum was later returned to the Musée des Arts et Métiers, and a replica is currently on display at the Panthéon. This pendulum has been designated as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1920.

The Panthéon in France is a prestigious burial place reserved for "National Heroes" through a parliamentary act. The same honor is bestowed upon historical military leaders like Napoléon, Turenne, and Vauban, who are interred in Les Invalides. The crypt at Panthéon is home to the remains of famous figures like Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Jean Moulin, Louis Braille, Jean Jaurès, and its architect Soufflot. In 1907, Marcellin Berthelot was buried with his wife, followed by Marie Curie in 1995 as the first woman to be interred on merit. Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion, heroines of the French resistance, were interred in 2015. Simone Veil was interred in 2018, and her husband Antoine Veil was buried alongside her. Contrary to popular belief, the remains of Voltaire were not stolen and thrown into a garbage heap in 1814. Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers, was also buried in the Panthéon in 2002.

In 2007, President Jacques Chirac paid tribute to over 2,600 people recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel. The plaque in the Panthéon honored those who saved Jews from being deported to concentration camps during World War II. The tribute highlighted the fact that France's Jewish population survived the war largely due to the courage of ordinary citizens who risked their lives to help others.