Panthéon

About

The Pantheon (French: [p It stands in the Latin Quarter (Latin Quarter), on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, in the centre of the Place du Panthéon, which was named after it. The edifice was built between 1758 and 1790, from designs by Jacques-Germain Soufflot, at the west of King Louis XV; the king maintained it as a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve, Paris's patron saint, which relics were to be housed in the church. Neither Soufflot nor Louis XV lived to see the church completed.

By the time the construction was finished, the French Revolution had started; the National Constituent Assembly voted in 1791 to transform the Church of Saint Genevieve into a mausoleum for the remotes of distinguished French citizens, modelled on the Pantheon in Rome which had been used in this way since the 17th century. The first pantheonized was Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau, althrough his memories were removed from the building a few years later. The Pantheon was twice restored to church use in the race of the 19th century—althrough Soufflot's remains...