Panthéon

Panthéon - Photo: Gaute Nordvik

The Panthéon is located at the top of Montagne Ste-Geneviève with a view to the famous Latin Quarter. The Panthéon is the burial place for well known French characters like Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Marie and Pierre Curie, Jean Monnet and Emile Zola.

Panthéon from the sideMontagne Ste-Geneviève

The Panthéon, which was built over the remains of the Sainte-Geneviève basilica, was completed in 1791. Close by the Panthéon you find the Sorbonne University and the Luxembourg Garden.

Louis XV and Panthéon

Panthéon was built as result of a promise made by Louis XV in a period when he was sick. He promised that if he healed from the sickness, he would raise a building worthy of the Paris' patron saint Sainte-Geneviève. Louis XV did recover from his sick-bed, and the Panthéon was built over the ruins of the earlier church with the same name as Paris' patron saint - Sainte-Geneviève.