History Visit Themes Information History Visit Themes Information History Visit Themes Information History Visit Themes Information ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ English Glossary The honours of the Pantheon A symbol in the city Pantheon Constituante: assembly called together to draw up A revolutionary place of worship A neo-classical manifesto a constitution. That of 1789 led to the elimination From Christian basilica of the Ancien Régime in France. By decree dated 4 April1791, the Constituante*, The scope of the architectural project served to Temple of the Nation Enlightenment: school of philosophical thought in looking for a place worthy of receiving Mirabeau’s Louis XV’s political desires. Located in the heart 18th-century France, based on reason and de- remains, transformed the basilica into a temple to of a quarter full of religious contestation, with the nouncing injustice. honour the great men of the Nation: the Pantheon Jansenists* officiating nearby, the new building sought The Christian basilica Génovéfains: canons living in a community and was born, where Voltaire was transferred in 1791, to re-establish the prestige of a divided church. attached to the adoration of Geneviève. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Marat in 1794. Rousseau, Starting in 1763, Soufflot* designed a monumental In 507, after his conversion to Christianity, King Clovis Jansenists: partisans of an austere, strict Christian the “father of equality”, lies facing his rival, Voltaire, square where a law school, built between founded a first basilica designed to house his tomb doctrine based on grace and predestination. enemy of the clergy and despots. The Revolution 1771 and 1783, and a theology school rose and that of his wife, . The pious Geneviève, Rebacking: gluing a painting canvas onto a different designated them as two emblems of the in harmony with the church’s architecture. who had protected from the barbarians, surface. mai 2015. gérées durablement, issu de forêts papier Imprim’Vert®, Stipa, impression Enlightenment* whose writings ushered was buried here in 512. Restoration: reestablishment of the monarchy in the new political regime. Greek purity and Gothic lightness Upkeep of the of Paris’s relics was soon with the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, entrusted to a Génovéfain chapter*. from 1814 to 1830. A political instrument of the State 3 Emblematic of an architectural renewal as much as Soufflot’s masterpiece Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-1780): Pantheon it was an experimental research project in the spirit traduction ADT international. architect, he was the main representative of the . Napoleon I decided to honour the great servants of of the Enlightenment*, Soufflot’s* church forms a In 1744, after a serious illness from which he said neoclassical style under Louis XVI. the State in the crypt, while the nave was reserved stylistic synthesis. he was cured by invoking Year II: second year of the 1st French Republic after for worship. In 1885, given the considerable emotion 6 From ancient architecture, it uses the shape of a the Saint, Louis XV made a its founding in September 1792. brought out by the death of Victor Hugo, this huge temple with colonnades, an ornamental vocabulary, basilica seemed to be the only place worthy of holding the Corinthian and Tuscan orders, and the layout in vow to dedicate a prestigious Visitor information his remains. the form of a Greek cross. monument to Geneviève. The Honours were thus granted according to criteria It uses a system of vaults, flying buttresses and the project for a new basilica was Average length of visit: 1½ hours. that have evolved with changes in the regimes. lightness of Gothic structures. entrusted to the architect Guided tour of the nave in French. Furthermore, the tombs in the crypt, the inscriptions The dome is inspired by the greatest examples from Soufflot* in 1755, with Appropriate tools. engraved in stone or affixed in bronze lettering, the Renaissance. Soufflot* chose to flood the building West façade the ambition of rivalling Activities for young visitors. have been used for another kind of homage. with light by opening 45 high windows. Saint Peter’s in Rome. His colleague, Rondelet, 22 Nowadays, French men and women are honoured By order of the Constituante*, the architectural completed the building in 1790. Gift and book shop here depending on the desires of the President of theorist, Quatremère de Quincy, was put in charge The guide for this monument can be found in the Itinéraires The National Pantheon collection and is available in 5 languages at the gift and book shop. the French Republic: politicians, authors, scientists, of transforming the church into a lay temple. He Resistance fighters, defenders of republican values intensified the sepulchral atmosphere of the place Centre des monuments nationaux and the fatherland. by sealing the many windows. 1 In 1791, the monument was transformed into the Panthéon National Pantheon. The huge sanctuary was returned Place du Panthéon 75005 Paris to its role as a church twice during the 19th century, tél. 01 44 32 18 00 before being definitively reinvested with its civic www.monuments-nationaux.fr function in 1885, for Victor Hugo’s funeral. Marie-Hélène Forestier réalisation graphique nationaux. des monuments / Centre Delagarde crédits photos © Jean-Pierre

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B BC 4 The walls have a painted décor on rebacked canvasses* 19 14 Powerful voices gave life to democracy and civic begun in 1874, in a political context in which France values at the dawn of the : 2 5 3 was divided between monarchists and republicans. This Condorcet, Monge and Abbé Grégoire. 6 order was supervised by the director of Beaux-Arts, 20 15 Courage and resistance are honoured in the north the Marquis de Chennevières. 13 11 corridor: the homage begins with the plaque of the 7 5 The Christian heroes who left their mark on France 15 Righteous, those who helped Jews to hide during 8 12 14 7 during the Ancien Régime are represented on the walls World War II. The men and women in this section of the transept. Each painting corresponds to a major 16 showed great courage during the war. event considered as a step forward in the nation’s 10 Resistance fighters and deportees to Ravensbrück, 1 construction and takes part in the history of France as Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion N it was idealised starting at the end of the 19th century: continued a lifetime of commitment after 1945, A reception-ticket desk the , the Coronation of Charlemagne, 9 A D B stairway placing brotherhood and equality at the heart of C toilets the Reform of Justice by Saint Louis and the end of their concerns. D gift and book shop the Hundred Years’ War with Joan of Arc. Pierre Brossolette, Jean Moulin and Jean Zay, all of 9 6 The cycle of the life of St Geneviève covers the C N whom died during the war, embody different aspects walls of the nave. It highlights the notions of sacrifice of the spirit of resistance against the Nazi occupier and and resistance, ideas on which the different political 8 the Vichy regime. André Malraux, France’s first Minister Main level sensitivities can agree. Artists who were famous of Culture, is here with Jean Monnet, artisan behind the in their day painted the exemplary actions of the 9 The vestibule holds two emblematic philosophers construction of the European Union, and René Cassin, 2 1 The nave presents a vast central volume, freed up Saint’s life: Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898), her of the Enlightenment* – Voltaire, defender of principal author of the Universal Declaration of Human by lines of Corinthian columns which define the side childhood and the Protection of Paris under siege by tolerance, is preceded by his statue by Houdon and, Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. aisles. At the intersection of the transept and the nave, the Huns, Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921), her death. facing him, his rival Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the father 16 Scientists, starting with Pierre and Marie Curie, four pillars bear the dome’s load. of equality. Nobel Prize recipients for their discoveries on radium, 2 Rondelet’s model shows the superposition of the 7 Under the dome can be found the oldest paintings, 15 10 The rotunda with its thick walls gives access to honour the notion of progress. 3 three layers forming the dome, the highest in Paris, frescoes begun under the First Empire and finished the branches of the crypt where the burial vaults 6 crowned with a cross. under the Restoration* by Baron Gros, depicting are located. 21 The west façade 3 La Convention nationale (The National the Apotheosis of St Geneviève. 11 Dignitaries of the Empire were buried here by 4 Convention) by Sicard, ca. 1924, shows Marianne decree issued by Napoleon I and include the authors The Pantheon opens out onto a monumental peristyle 10 surrounded by the soldiers of Year II* and renowned Staircase B leads to the crypt, where more plaques of the founding texts of the French State and inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. The pediment, revolutionary parliamentarians. Other sculptures, can be seen, along with the tombs of the men and institutions such as Portalis and Tronchet, authors transformed four times since the building was erected around the pillars in the crossing, pay homage to women honoured by the Nation. 16 of the Civil Code, and Perrégaux, founder of the – every time it changed uses – is now that of David events and people representing certain values. These Banque de France. d’Angers dating from 1837, La Patrie distribuant ses values, born of the Enlightenment*, were to become The crypt 12 Major authors whose works and commitments recompenses (The Fatherland crowning the heroic and fundamental for the Nation, notably freedom of expres- defend the values of republican justice and tolerance: civic virtues). Voltaire and Rousseau are represented sion embodied by Diderot et les Encyclopédistes (Diderot 11 8 Léon Gambetta, founder of the 3rd Republic, 17 Victor Hugo, Émile Zola and Alexandre Dumas. seated to the left in the composition. and the Encyclopédistes) and Orateurs de la Restauration is honoured by an urn with his heart placed in 18 13 Major figures in the fight for equality, notably (Orators of the Restoration*). the wall of the access stairs on 11 November 1920, Victor Schoelcher, buried for the centennial of the 5 4 The plaques in the chancel and the south transept the day on which a joint ceremony was held with abolition of slavery, Jean Jaurès, the father of French 12 are the start of the homages paid to famous persons, 13 the Unknown Soldier being buried at the Arc de Socialism, assassinated in 1914, and the “Poet of mainly writers who died between the two World Wars. 14 Triomphe in Paris. Négritude”, Aimé Césaire, honoured with a plaque.

*Explanations overleaf.