The building was originally constructed as a church. It was completed in 1744 by Louis XV, dedicated to Sainte Geneviève, and designed by French architect Soufflot.  Over the next century, it switched between being a church and a panthéon, due to various revolutions and movements, and permanently became a panthéon in 1885.  The building contains a series of wall paintings depicting the timeline of Catholic history and also Foucault’s Pendulum, used in 1851 by the astronomer to prove that the Earth is rotating about its axis.  The basement of the Panthéon is a crypt that contains the tombs of numerous important French men and two women, including authors, dignitaries, scientists, and others.

Métro : Cluny la Sorbonne

 

Place du Panthéon