Panthéon

Panthéon Review

Rome has St. Peter's, London has St. Paul's, and Paris has the Panthéon, whose enormous dome dominates the Left Bank. Built as the church of Ste-Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, it was later converted to an all-star mausoleum with some of France's biggest names, including Voltaire, Zola, Dumas, Rousseau, and Victor Hugo. Pierre and Marie Curie were reinterred here together in 1995. Begun in 1764, the building was almost complete when the French Revolution erupted. By then, architect Jacques-German Soufflot had died, supposedly from worrying that the 220-foot-high dome would collapse. He needn't have fretted: the dome is so perfect that Foucault used it to test his famous pendulum to prove the Earth rotates on its axis. A model of the pendulum still hangs from the dome and the staff offer demonstrations (there's also a video in English that explains the theory). To access the upper level, take a free guided tour (offered several times a day, in French only). There is information in English at the entrance and on boards in the crypt.