Panthéon
Carved across the pediment are the words: "Aux grands hommes, la patrie reconnaissante" — To great men, a grateful homeland. The Panthéon was not originally a mausoleum. Louis XV, recovering from a serious illness, vowed to rebuild the ruined church of Saint Geneviève; architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot designed what rose in its place in the neoclassical style, with a façade inspired by the Roman Pantheon and a dome modeled on the Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio. During the French Revolution, the building was converted into a secular mausoleum for the nation's great figures. Today its crypt holds Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Zola, and Pierre and Marie Curie, among others. A 67-meter Foucault pendulum hangs silently beneath the dome, tracing Earth's rotation. The building is managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux and is open to the public — worth going inside to find where each name on the list finally came to rest.
France · 60 The overlooked corners inside
The overlooked corners inside
The Crypt
Descend the steps into an entrance hall ringed by Doric columns — Soufflot modelled the order on the Temple of Hera at Paestum, which he had studied on his travels in Italy. Unlike a typical cellar, the crypt sits close to ground level; windows open above each corridor, letting daylight in. It spans the building's entire footprint, organized as four galleries running beneath the arms of the cruciform nave, converging on a circular vaulted hall directly below the dome.
The Dome
Look up at this 83-meter dome and you are seeing only its outermost shell. The entire structure is built in stone, clad in lead — not the timber framing typical of the era — which made it a genuine technical gamble at the time. Soufflot aimed to rival the domes of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and St. Paul's Cathedral in London; the final design was fixed in 1777 and completed in 1790. The dome is now a classified historic monument.
Tomb of Rousseau
In the crypt, Rousseau's sarcophagus and Voltaire's face each other across the corridor — the two sharpest intellectual antagonists of the Enlightenment, placed in the same gallery for eternity. Rousseau was born in Geneva (1712) and died at Ermenonville (1778); he never set foot in the Panthéon during his lifetime. In 1794, six years after the Revolution began, his remains were transferred here from the Île des Peupliers at Ermenonville. He was the second Enlightenment philosopher to enter the Panthéon, after Voltaire. The sarcophagus is designed with a narrow slit, a metaphor for ideas that keep letting light through. His Social Contract (1762), with its concepts of popular sovereignty and the "general will," directly fed the Revolution's political vocabulary; his Confessions inaugurated modern autobiographical writing.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org
Tomb of Marie Curie
In 1995, the remains of both Pierre and Marie Curie were transferred to the Panthéon together — making Marie Curie the first woman admitted on the strength of her own achievements, not as a spouse. Her sarcophagus is lined with lead shielding: her remains still carry a low level of radioactivity from lifelong exposure to radioactive materials. She won two Nobel Prizes — Physics in 1903 (shared with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel) and Chemistry in 1911, for her discovery of radium and polonium and for coining the word "radioactivity." She died in 1934 of aplastic anemia, almost certainly caused by decades of radiation exposure. Sixty years after her death, the Panthéon's doors finally opened for her.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org
Diderot Memorial
This plaque is the Panthéon's acknowledgment of an absence: Diderot himself was never buried here. Denis Diderot (1713–1784) was the chief editor of the Encyclopédie, a project of more than seven thousand articles that laid the foundations of modern knowledge classification. His remains were exhumed by grave robbers in 1793 and have never been recovered — almost certainly lost to an unmarked grave. The memorial marks his name on the wall, filling in a gap that history left.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Pierre Curie
In 1995, Pierre Curie was interred in the Panthéon alongside his wife Marie, both honored… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Voltaire
In December 1821, Voltaire's and Rousseau's tombs were moved to a section of the building… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: fr.wikipedia.org
Rousseau Monument
The Panthéon holds both Rousseau's sarcophagus (tomb no. 2) and this separate monument — a… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Foucault Pendulum
Hanging from the dome, this pendulum is the device designed by physicist Léon Foucault to… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: fr.wikipedia.org
Valmy Monument
The word "Valmy" carved on the Panthéon's wall refers to the cannonade of September 20, 17… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
La Vengeur du Peuple Memorial
This memorial records a naval battle on June 1, 1794 (13 Prairial, Year II, in the Revolut… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: fr.wikipedia.org
Writers Who Died for France (1914–1918)
On October 15, 1927, President Gaston Doumergue unveiled this plaque in the Panthéon. Four… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: fr.wikipedia.org
Writers Who Died for France (Second World War)
This is the companion panel to the 1914–1918 plaque nearby, recording the names of French… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: fr.wikipedia.org
Captain Guynemer Memorial
Georges Guynemer (1894–1917) was France's second-highest scoring fighter ace of the First… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Tomb of Félix Éboué
On May 20, 1949, the remains of Félix Éboué were transferred to the Panthéon — making him… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Tomb of Victor Schœlcher
On April 27, 1848, the Second French Republic issued its decree abolishing slavery — draft… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Jean Jaurès
Jean Jaurès (1859–1914) was the central figure of French socialism, founder of the newspap… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Aimé Césaire Memorial
On April 6, 2011, the Panthéon unveiled a symbolic plaque for Aimé Césaire (1913–2008). It… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Paul Langevin
After the Second World War, the short-lived Fourth Republic (1948–1958) admitted two physi… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Marcellin and Sophie Berthelot
One of the crypt's more unusual burials: chemist Marcellin Berthelot (1827–1907) and his w… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Tomb of Louis Braille
Louis Braille (1809–1852) showed a prototype of his tactile reading system to classmates w… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Jean Perrin
Jean Perrin was admitted to the Panthéon alongside Paul Langevin in a joint ceremony arran… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Paul Painlevé
Paul Painlevé (1863–1933) is one of the few people to have left a deep mark in both mathem… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Émile Zola
Zola (1840–1902) wrote the 20-volume Rougon-Macquart series; Germinal, Nana, and L'Assommo… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Alexandre Dumas
In 2002, President Jacques Chirac personally presided over Dumas's transfer to the Panthéo… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Victor Hugo
Hugo's entry into the Panthéon was not simply an author's posthumous honor. In 1852 he had… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: fr.wikipedia.org
Tomb of Alphonse-Victor Baudin
On December 3, 1851, Alphonse Baudin (1811–1851) was killed on a barricade in the Faubourg… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Tomb of Sadi Carnot
On June 25, 1894, President Sadi Carnot (1837–1894) was assassinated in Lyon by Italian an… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Duphot-Corré (La Tour d'Auvergne)
Théophile-Malo Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne (1743–1800) carries a legendary title in Frenc… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: frenchempire.net
Tomb of François-Séverin Marceau
François Marceau (1769–1796) was one of the youngest divisional generals of the French Rev… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Lazare Carnot
Lazare Carnot (1753–1823) is remembered in French history as "the Organizer of Victory." A… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes (1769–1809) was one of Napoleon's most trusted marshals — and the son of a Gas… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Jean-Baptiste Papin
Papin (1756–1809) was a parliamentary deputy of the First Empire, remembered chiefly for h… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of François-Denis Tronchet
Tronchet (1726–1806) was the First Empire's first senator to be interred in the Panthéon… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of General Bégon
François Bégon (1757–1808) was a divisional general of the Revolutionary and Imperial peri… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Bevière
Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Bevière (1723–1807) navigated the Revolution as a lawyer: he sat in t… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of General Malher
Jean-Pierre-Firmin Malher (1761–1808) commanded an infantry division under Marshal Ney at… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Durazzo
Girolamo-Luigi Durazzo (1739–1809) was born in Genoa and served as Doge of the Ligurian Re… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Cabanis
Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis (1757–1808) earned his place in the history of philosophy with… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Petiet
Claude-Louis Petiet (1749–1806) served as Minister of War under the Directory, then moved… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Caulaincourt
Gabriel-Louis de Caulaincourt (1740–1808) was not himself a particularly prominent soldier… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: wikidata.org
Tomb of Régnier
Louis-Pierre-Pantaléon Régnier (1759–1807) came to politics from a career as a notary and… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Portalis
Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis (1746–1807) was one of the principal drafters of the Napoleoni… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of the Duke of Plaisance
Antoine-César de Choiseul-Praslin (1756–1808) was born into the ducal Praslin family. Duri… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: fr.wikipedia.org
Tomb of General Reynier
Jean-Louis-Ébénézer Reynier (1771–1814) was born in Lausanne and rose through the French a… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of General Walther
Frédéric-Henri Walther (1761–1813) was an Alsatian cavalry commander who became Colonel of… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of General Dewint
Jean-Guillaume Dewint (1761–1812) was born in Kampen in the Netherlands, a Dutch supporter… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Perrégaux
Jean-Frédéric Perrégaux (1744–1808) was born in Neuchâtel and made his fortune as a banker… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Crétet
Emmanuel Crétet (1747–1809) was the Bank of France's first governor (taking office April 2… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Cardinal Caprara
Giovanni Battista Caprara-Montecuccoli (1733–1810) was an Italian cardinal from Bologna wh… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of General Laboissière
Pierre Garnier de Laboissière (1755–1809) was a divisional general of the Revolutionary an… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: frenchempire.net
Tomb of Admiral Fleurieu
Charles-Pierre Claret de Fleurieu (1738–1810) was a technical pioneer in the eighteenth-ce… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Admiral Morard de Galles
Justin-Bonaventure Morard de Galles (1741–1809) entered the French navy in 1757 and fought… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Sers
Jean-Pierre Sers (1746–1809) was a Bordeaux merchant and Girondist deputy who aligned hims… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of Treilhard
Jean-Baptiste Treilhard (1742–1810) served successively as president of the Constituent As… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of General Songis de Courbons
Nicolas-Marie Songis de Courbons (1761–1810) was commander of the Grande Armée's artillery… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Tomb of General Saint-Hilaire
Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire (1766–1809) led the First Division's assaul… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
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Joseph-Marie Vien
Joseph-Marie Vien was one of the few painters interred in the Panthéon's crypt during the… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Tomb of Cardinal Erskine de Kellie
Charles Erskine (1739–1811) was a Scottish-born Italian Catholic cardinal who came from a… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Tomb of Bougainville
Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811) was the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the gl… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
FAQ
What overlooked corners are worth seeing inside Panthéon?
The Crypt, The Dome, Tomb of Rousseau and more — 60 spots in all, each with sources and a guide in your language to read or listen to on the spot.
Is the Panthéon guide free?
The first 5 spots are free to read; the other 55 unlock with a one-time purchase (not a subscription).