Panthéon
Panthéon is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Paris audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~90 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type monument
- Suggested visit ~90 min
- Paris Paris guide
About Panthéon
France's secular mausoleum on the Left Bank hill, housing the remains of Marie Curie, Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo and over 80 other French national heroes.
The Panthéon is the secular temple of the French Republic, built as a church but converted during the Revolution into a mausoleum for France's greatest citizens. Designed by Jacques-Germain Soufflot and completed in 1790, it stands atop the hill of the Latin Quarter, Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, with a magnificent neoclassical dome that dominates the Left Bank skyline. The inscription above the portico reads: "Aux grands hommes, la patrie reconnaissante", "To great men, the grateful fatherland." Since 1995, women have been admitted on equal terms.
The crypt beneath the building contains the remains of over 80 national figures: Voltaire and Rousseau (political rivals in life, neighbours in death, their tombs facing each other), Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Émile Zola, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Marie Curie (the only woman admitted by her own merits), Louis Braille, and many more. Foucault's famous pendulum, which first demonstrated the rotation of the Earth in this building in 1851, hangs from the central dome.
Did you know? Marie Curie is the only person in history to have won Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, and in 1995 became the first woman admitted to the Panthéon by her own merits.
How long should you spend at Panthéon?
Plan about ~90 min at Panthéon. That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is Panthéon worth visiting?
Panthéon is one of the 44 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Paris, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Nearby stops in Paris
Hear the story of Panthéon
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