Pantheon of Paris, the temple of the nation to the great men of France

The Pantheon of Paris is inspired by the Pantheon of Rome. At that time, it seems to have been a cult to the imperial family and to several gods, which would have given it the name "Pantheon". This name comes from the Greek pántheion (πάνθειον), meaning "of all the gods". From the sixteenth century, this Pantheon in Rome was reused as a tomb for illustrious men.

The Pantheon of Paris: first a church for Louis XV

In 1744, while in Metz suffering from a serious illness, Louis XV vowed, if he survived, to build a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve. Back in Paris, he asked the Marquis de Marigny, Director General of Buildings, to build the monument in place of the old abbey of Sainte-Geneviève, which was then in ruins. In 1755, the Marquis de Marigny entrusted the responsibility for the plans to the architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot, who had sent a project from Rome that was adopted by acclamation.
By creating an exemplary religious architecture, Soufflot responded to Louis XV's wish to glorify the monarchy with dignity in the person of Saint Genevieve, patron saint of Paris, to whom the building was dedicated.

The exceptional location of the Pantheon of Paris

The Pantheon of Paris is a neo-classical monument located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. In the heart of the Latin Quarter, on the mountain Sainte-Geneviève, it is in the center of the Place du Panthéon and surrounded by the city hall of the 5th arrondissement, the Lycée Henri-IV, the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, the Sainte-Geneviève library and the Faculty of Law. The street Soufflot draws a perspective to the Panthéon until the garden of Luxembourg.It is also close to The Sorbonne University.

The construction of the Pantheon of Paris

The architecture is based on the façade of the Pantheon in Rome, built in the 1st century BC, topped by a dome inspired by the Tempietto of the church of San Pietro in Montorio.
On September 6, 1764, Louis XV came to lay the first stone. The construction progressed steadily, since in 1769 the walls were erected and in 1776 the vaults were completed.
But the project was very controversial. The audacity of the project, but also, it is true, the settling of the masonry due to a bad execution, fed libels and explanatory memoirs. The polemic was very lively. The sculptor Guillaume II Coustou realized the pediment.

The Revolution of 1789 and the Pantheon of Paris

It was after Mirabeau's death, on April 2, 1791, that the idea of gathering the tombs of France's great men in a place dedicated to them was considered, like Westminster Abbey in England or the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont in the past in France. The National Assembly decided, by a decree of April 4, 1791, that the building would serve as a necropolis for exceptional personalities who contributed to the greatness of France.
On April 4, 1791, the Constituent Assembly transformed the church of Sainte-Geneviève into the "Pantheon of Great Men".
Quatremère de Quincy was charged with adapting the building to this new function. Inside, he closed 38 of the 42 windows, thus deeply modifying the circulation of light inside the building. While the initial project was to let in as much light as possible, the closing of the openings now plunges the base of the place into a semi-darkness.
Between 1796 and 1801, a consolidation project for the monument saw a succession of expert appraisals.

The historical reversals of the Pantheon's destination in the 19th and 20th centuries

Throughout the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Pantheon was assigned a religious or patriotic purpose by each successive regime. Each power in place used the destination of this building as an affirmation of its conception of the State, and in particular of its relationship with religious power.

Napoleonic period (First Empire)

During this period, the controversy about the solidity of the building continued to the point that an interior shoring was put in place.
Visiting the building on February 13, 1806, Napoleon took a close interest in possible remedies. Finally, the only realization was the construction of a monumental staircase at the back of the building to descend into the crypt. But on this occasion, by the decree of February 20, 1806, the building took the name of Sainte-Geneviève church: it became both the burial place of the great men of the country and a place of worship.
The crypt received the coffins of great servants of the State, while in the upper part of the church religious ceremonies were held, particularly those related to imperial commemorations.

The Bourbon Restoration (1815 - 1830)

At the beginning of the Restoration (1815), the Pantheon remained a burial place for great men. The royal order of April 12, 1816 returns the church Sainte-Geneviève to the Catholic faith, providing for the "removal of all ornaments and emblems foreign to the Catholic faith.

July monarchy and the Pantheon of Paris

In turn, the July monarchy (from 1830) withdraws the church Sainte-Geneviève to the Catholic worship and gives it back its destination of pantheon which is then called "the Temple of the Glory". David d'Angers redid the pediment and the famous motto "To great men, the grateful country" reappeared.

Second Republic

From 1848 to 1851, under the Second Republic, it is "Temple of Humanity", without success either because it does not welcome any new tenants.

Second Empire

Under the Second Empire (1851-1870), the building became a church again and the inscription disappeared again. The decree of November 6, 1851 did not repeal Louis-Philippe's ordinance maintaining the national burial ground character desired by the 1789 Revolution. At the same time, the ceremony of resumption of the cult took place on January 3, 1852.

Third Republic of France

As soon as the Third Republic was established (1880), a debate began on the possibility of giving the church of Saint Genevieve its status as a pantheon. The law of July 19, 1881 is the consecration of the church Sainte-Geneviève to the memory of great citizens. This building will therefore take the name of Pantheon. The inscription: "To great men the grateful fatherland! "will be maintained on its pediment.
In 1885, on the occasion of the death of Victor Hugo and his burial in the Pantheon, this law is implemented.

The resting place of the great men honored by the Republic

In 1885, the burial of Victor Hugo put into practice the law of July 19, 1881 giving the building its function as a pantheon. The religious furniture was removed and the inscription "To the great men the grateful Fatherland" was put back. The organ is heard one last time in this place, because in 1891, the organ is assigned to the church of the military hospital of Val-de-Grâce. Auguste Rodin was commissioned to create a monument to the glory of Victor Hugo. At the same time, a statue of Mirabeau was commissioned from Jean-Antoine Injalbert. The project was to include one hundred sculptures that would have been placed in the north transept. However, the committee responsible for judging the works concluded that Rodin's proposals did not harmonize with the statue of Mirabeau.
From 1902 to 1905, Édouard Detaille painted the triptych Vers la gloire, described as a pictorial hymn to the Republic. In 1906 a copy of The Thinker by Auguste Rodin was placed in front of the Pantheon. It was later removed.
In 1913, a republican altar was placed in the space originally planned by Soufflot for the religious altar in the original purpose of the building. This set is to the glory of the National Convention in 1920.
In the transept, the monument of Paul Landowski is installed in the north, dedicated to the memory of artists whose names have been lost.
In 1924, the monument to the unknown heroes and martyrs who died for France was installed opposite. This sculpture is the only one in the Pantheon, along with that of Paul Landowski, not to pay tribute to identified great men but to unknown heroes.
In 1927, a plaque was affixed with the names of writers who died for France during the period 1914-1918. Two monuments are installed in the transept. See the article List of people mentioned in the Pantheon of Paris
The Pantheon of Paris is classified as a historical monument in 1920.
After the Second World War is affixed a plaque bearing the names of writers who died for France during the period 1939-1945.

The Pantheon of Paris in the recent period and the Pendule de Foucault

This period seems to mark a certain stability: no architectural element has been modified, removed or added since 1958. Except of course, periods of restoration of the building and the roofs (storm of December 26, 1999).

However, a symbolic decorative element came to occupy the center of the nave in 1995, which has remained empty and unused to this day: Foucault's pendulum. It is an experimental device designed by the French physicist Léon Foucault, to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. The first public demonstration dates from 1851, the pendulum being hung on the vault of the Pantheon in Paris. The sphere of this historical pendulum was then reused in the Foucault pendulum installed in the Musée des Arts et Métiers (Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Paris, where it is still visible.
A new pendulum was installed in 1995 at the Pantheon. Dismantled during the restoration of the Pantheon, it was put back in motion, after restoration, on September 15, 2015
Since that date, the Pendulum's brass ball divides the universe in two as the Egyptian goddess Bastet rotates around it, a statue installed in 1996 for the ceremony of the transfer of André Malraux's ashes.

The personalities who rest in the Pantheon

The total space available in the Pantheon could accommodate about 300 personalities. In 2018, there are 81 personalities whose governments in power have decided the "pantheonization", but only 74 personalities have a tomb or a funeral urn in the lower part of the monument. Indeed, some of them, after having been admitted, were then removed.
We must also add four tombs placed here for particular reasons:

• the architect Soufflot, buried in 1829, as the designer of the building,
• Marc Schœlcher, the father of the politician and journalist Victor Schoecher, who is buried with his son to respect their common will,
• Sophie Berthelot, the chemist's wife, for the same reason. Marcellin Berthelot, overwhelmed by grief, died an hour after his spouse,
• Antoine Veil, the husband of politician Simone Veil, for the same reason.

Four women are buried in the Pantheon for their own merit, Marie Curie, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Germaine Tillion and Simone Veil in 2018.

Since 1885, when Victor Hugo entered the Pantheon, the building has become the resting place of the great Men of the Fatherland, in particular Voltaire, Rousseau, Zola, Pierre and Marie Curie ... and since July 1, 2018, Simone Veil.

The Pantheon through the recent history

The Pantheon and recent historical facts

For over 200 years, the Pantheon has witnessed many scenes of French history. Because of its location in the Latin Quarter, it has a front row seat whenever a few demonstrators decide to turn discontent into revolution. Its "spirit" is also called upon to commemorate an event, or when the integrity of France is deemed to be in danger.

The Pantheon and science

• Foucault's pendulum is associated with the history of the Pantheon in Paris. Because of the great height under the dome, the first tests could be made in 1851.
• Because of its location high up in Paris, the Pantheon was used as a receiver for Eugène Ducretet's experiments on radio.

The Pantheon and art

Its dominant position at the top of the Sainte-Geneviève hill as well as its original shape attracted, since its construction, the eye of confirmed artists such as Van Gogh, Marc Chagall or amateurs.
As a republican symbol, it was put into a poem by Victor Hugo, and is also the subject of several books. It is now also an exhibition space where contemporary artists such as Gérard Garouste or Ernesto Neto take advantage of the vast space of the nave to hang their works.
On the other hand, the Pantheon has only six writers (Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Émile Zola), only one painter (Joseph-Marie Vien, official artist of the first Empire) and no musician

The installation of a cross on top of the public and secular building and the battle of the cross

The Christian cross that currently surmounts the Pantheon, a monument dedicated to great men in a secular republic, has a long history. In 1790, when the dome was completed, a temporary cross was placed at the top of the dome while waiting for the statue of Saint Genevieve to be placed on top of the building.
In 1791, the Constituent Assembly under the Revolution, decided to transform the church of Sainte-Geneviève into a mausoleum for the ashes of Mirabeau. The cross was replaced by a nine meter high statue of a woman blowing a trumpet.
On January 3, 1822, the church was finally inaugurated. A gilded bronze cross was placed at the top to replace the statue. On August 26, 1830, Louis-Philippe 1st transformed the building back into a pantheon. The cross was removed and replaced by a flag. On December 6, 1851, by a decree of the prince president Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, the Pantheon is returned to the Catholic faith and a golden cross is replaced on the dome.
On April 2, 1871, the insurrectionary Communards sawed off the small branches of the cross and placed a red flag on top. In July 1873, during the years of the "moral order" government, a stone cross was put back, 4 meters high and weighing 1,500 kg with its base and ball. For the transfer of Victor Hugo's ashes in 1885, the Third Republic gave back to the building the status of "Pantheon", but it was not considered necessary to remove the cross, which was later topped by a lightning rod. This is what we see today.