Panthéon

The Panthéon is the third place of interest in the Latin Quarter a place intertwined with the history of the city from the time of  Saint Genevieve. What is the Pantheon today, was once an abbey built by the Frankish King Clovis I? Soon after Clovis took control of Paris and although not yet Christian himself, he ordered the establishment of an abbey for Saint Genevieve, a place where she could minister to the people of Paris. She was buried at that abbey sometime after 500 AD and was almost immediately recognized as a patron saint of the city.

For many years the abbey served as a center of learning and part of the University of Paris. In the mid-18th century, King Louis XV fell gravely ill and death appeared imminent. Public prayers were held all across France for the king’s salvation who vowed to build a new church in the place of the old abbey that would outdo the churches of St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London. The king came out alive and by 1790 the fulfillment of his vow stood as grand and magnificent as he had envisioned.

A few years later the French Revolution upturned the traditional pillars of French society and religion became one of the enemies. Instead of a grand church, the building was turned into a great mausoleum for distinguished French. The nation was above all and the neoclassic temple would from then on be the Pantheon, a resting place for people of art, literature, and science, a temple of secular gods like Victor Hugo, Rousseau, Voltaire, Zola, Marie Curie, and Alexandre Dumas.

Today paying homage to these larger-than-life stars of human intellect will make you feel like entering the French Parthenon or the Roman Pantheon, with stunning mosaics, painted decors, and interior sculpture. From a historic standpoint, this is one of the most important monuments of modern secular societies. From its actual standpoint atop the hill of Montagne St-Genevieve, the monument offers amazing views of Paris. More