The Panthéon

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The Panthéon

« A grateful nation honours its great men » : the Panthéon today bears its inscription with such pride that it has ended up forgetting its long history-sometimes glorious, but often turbulent. To begin with, Louis XV commissioned the architect Jacques Germain Soufflot to build a church dedicated to Saint Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris. But in 1791, the barely finished building was transformed into a « temple of the nation », a « pantheon » of illustrious men.

The necropolis of the great dignitaries during the First Empire, a place of worship during the Restoration, a « temple of glory » during the July Monarchy, elevated to the rank of national basilica during the Second Empire, the building reverted once and for all to its republican destiny at the time of Victor Hugo's pantheonisation in 1885. Today, this key French memorial site remarkably combines the various testimonies to its prestigious history. In the naves, secular and religious works-large paintings and sculptures-are placed side by side. And in the crypt, the great men keep watch.