The Panthéon, sitting atop the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, has long had one of the most recognizable domes on the city’s skyline (right alongside that of Les Invalides). Plenty of tourists pass by it on their way from Rue Mouffetard to the Luxembourg Gardens. Some stop to photograph the impressive building, and a few even step inside. But how many of them really know the twists and turns this monumental building has been through?
Let me take you on a historical journey through a building that, over the course of a century, changed its purpose several times before finally settling into its role as the Panthéon of France’s greats. Together we’ll find out who’s buried there, and of course I won’t forget to give you all the practical details you’ll need if you want to go down into the crypt and walk among the tombs.
The Panthéon as a mirror of France’s political split personality
It all started with a king’s illness
In 1744, King Louis XV (r. 1715-1774) decided to go to war with Austria. But when he reached the city of Metz, he fell gravely ill and his condition deteriorated rapidly. Lying on what he believed was his deathbed, the king swore that if he recovered, he would banish his mistress, the Duchesse de Châteauroux (Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle, duchesse de Châteauroux), and build a magnificent church in honor of Saint Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris.
And wouldn’t you know it, the king miraculously recovered from his illness, but it wasn’t long before he went right back to his mistress, who, even more miraculously, died suddenly that very same year and was buried quietly in the cemetery of the Church of Saint-Sulpice. The promises about building the church were also forgotten, and nothing happened for years afterward.
But a new mistress brought new luck, and after the Duchesse de Châteauroux came Madame de Pompadour, who managed to get her brother, the Marquis de Marigny, appointed director of royal buildings. In 1755, he decided that a king’s promises ought to be kept, and he appointed Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-1780) to design the church.
The site chosen was the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, where her remains and an important abbey bearing her name once stood (today only a bell tower remains, standing at the center of one of France’s most elite high schools, but that’s a story for another day). From the very first plans, it was clear this would be a grandiose building with a massive dome, inspired by the famous architect Donato Bramante (1444-1514). The impressive facade itself (more on that later) was designed directly inspired by the ancient Pantheon of Rome, from the first century BCE. But what Soufflot hadn’t accounted for was that beneath the hill where the church was to stand, there were ancient quarries.
The result was hollow ground, which caused the building’s foundations to sink. Soufflot spent the rest of his life trying to repair the damage and defend his reputation, which had taken a hit. But it was all beyond his control, and he died of a broken heart in 1780. His student Jean-Baptiste Rondelet (1743-1829) took over, and after a number of further changes, he finally completed the building in 1790.
If you thought that was the end of the church’s story, you’d be wrong: it was only just beginning.
From church to Panthéon and back again
As we saw, the church opened its doors to the public in 1790, and the timing couldn’t have been worse. As you know, the French Revolution broke out in 1789, and in its wake, a great number of churches were destroyed or repurposed (Notre-Dame, for instance, became a warehouse).
Luckily for this particular church, one of the heroes of the Revolution, the Comte de Mirabeau (Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, 1747-1791), died a year after the church opened, and it was decided to bury him there, along with Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and other figures beloved by the revolutionaries. And so the church changed its face and became the Panthéon, which in Greek means “temple of all the gods.”
But none of them got to rest in peace for very long, because France’s history kept moving at a dizzying pace. Napoleon signed the Concordat with the Pope at the start of the 19th century, and as a result the Panthéon went back to being a church, even though its lower level continued to serve as a burial site for famous people. Meanwhile, work decorating the church continued, and the painter Antoine-Jean Gros painted Napoleon and Clovis (the first king of France) together on the inside of the dome. He did this to show that Napoleon hadn’t simply seized power by force, but represented a direct continuation of the kings of France.
The dome Gros painted shows Napoleon and Clovis together with Saint Geneviève. Image source: Wikipedia. When Napoleon fell, the Bourbons returned, and they rushed to restore things to how they had been. First, the building went back to serving the Catholic Church exclusively, and second, Gros was asked to replace Napoleon’s figure on the dome with that of Louis XVIII (which is why you can find the original painting today at the Musée Carnavalet).
But Louis XVI’s brothers didn’t manage to stay in power for long, and in 1830 a revolution broke out that brought King Louis-Philippe I to power. Louis-Philippe wanted to curry favor with supporters of the Revolution, so he turned the church back into the Panthéon, though no one was buried there during his reign. What did happen was that it was decided to add the inscription “Aux Grands Hommes La Patrie Reconnaissante” to the facade, which translates to “To the great men, a grateful homeland.”
When Louis-Philippe fell from power in 1848, the short-lived Second Republic was established. It wanted to turn the building back into the Panthéon, but shortly afterward Napoleon III came to power, and like his uncle, he wanted to win favor with the Church, so he restored the building to its original purpose. Was that finally the end of the church/Panthéon saga? You must be joking.
Victor Hugo died at just the right time
Napoleon III’s reign lasted 18 years (1852-1870) and ended in a massive collapse during the Franco-Prussian War, the siege of Paris, and the Paris Commune that followed. After a bloody year, the Third Republic managed to establish its hold on France, but in its early years it wasn’t very popular, since the left hated it for crushing the Commune, and the right generally wanted to bring back the Bourbons.
The Republic needed a symbol that would give it legitimacy, and luckily for it, in 1885 it got exactly what it was looking for. Victor Hugo (1802-1885), with timing that couldn’t have been better, decided that more than eighty years on this earth was enough, and he died in May 1885 after a brief illness.
Victor Hugo began his life as a monarchist, but over the years he stopped supporting the monarchy and embraced more democratic values. Since he had become the most beloved man in France after publishing “Les Misérables,” his death turned him into a republican symbol. The young Republic spared no expense organizing a magnificent funeral procession for him, attended by roughly a million citizens (a record that, as far as I know, has never been broken). The procession ended at the Church of Sainte-Geneviève, which once again became the Panthéon, and this time for good (though, to avoid offending public sentiment, the cross on the dome was never removed).
From that day on, the building has continued to serve as France’s Panthéon, where only the nation’s greatest figures are buried. Note that unlike Victor Hugo, who was buried in the Panthéon right away, those buried after him were first buried in an ordinary cemetery. Only some time after burial does the government decide whether the person deserves to be interred in the Panthéon.
And so some of the Panthéon’s residents, such as Alexandre Dumas, “had” to wait a long time for their much-anticipated entry, while Simone Veil, for example, was buried there relatively quickly. Here’s the ceremony transferring Dumas’s remains to the Panthéon, notice the musketeers accompanying the coffin:
Interesting people buried in the Panthéon
Unlike the cemeteries of Paris, where you’ll find quite a few beautiful and impressive tombstones, the Panthéon doesn’t offer much in that department. Still, visiting the church and the crypt is highly recommended, both for the church’s beauty and for the chance to pay your last respects to some of the most important people who shaped not just France, but humanity as a whole.
Here are a few graves worth visiting to pay your respects:
Louis Braille, 1809-1852
Louis Braille wasn’t born blind, but an eye injury at age three, which caused an infection, left him without his sight. Despite this, he was an outstanding student and a gifted musician, and during his studies he was introduced to “night writing,” a system used by the blind. That system was very complicated, and Louis decided to invent a different one.
The result was Braille, the writing system that revolutionized reading and writing for the blind. Braille became a beloved teacher and a respected musician, who played in several of Paris’s most famous churches. He died of tuberculosis at age 43, but “luckily” for him, even though the building had gone back to functioning as a church under Napoleon III, he was still granted burial there, both for the writing system he invented and for his musical career.
Voltaire, 1694-1778
Voltaire (the pen name of François-Marie Arouet) is rightly considered the greatest of the French philosophers and writers of the 18th century, and arguably of all time. Because he had spoken out against the Catholic Church during his life, that same church wouldn’t allow him to be buried in Paris, and his friends were forced to bury him in a small abbey in Champagne called Scellières.
As you read earlier, after the French Revolution, the government decided that Voltaire deserved to be buried in the Panthéon, and his remains were transferred there in 1791. In 1814, rumors circulated that his body had been stolen by radicals, and in 1897 his grave was opened to confirm the rumor was false (Voltaire remained resting there in peace).
Marie Curie, 1867-1934
Marie Curie (1867-1934) and Pierre Curie (1859-1906) were pioneers in the study of radioactivity. Thanks to their joint research, she won the Nobel Prize twice (once in physics, once in chemistry). Marie Curie was honored greatly both during her life and after her death, and there’s even an element (curium) named after her.
The remains of Pierre and Marie Curie were transferred to the Panthéon in 1995. That made Marie Curie the first woman to be buried in this prestigious place. It was a breakthrough that paved the way for other important women to be buried there as well, such as Simone Veil.
If you’d like to read a bit more about Marie Curie, feel free to check out the article Pierre and Marie Curie: A Love Story.
The room of three writers
There aren’t any especially beautiful tombstones here, but it’s well worth stepping into this room anyway, because in one small space you’ll find the graves of three giants of French literature: Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Émile Zola.
I’ve already written about Hugo and Dumas, so here are a few words about Émile Zola (1840-1902), whom we all know from the Dreyfus affair. By the way, there were also attempts to have Dreyfus himself buried in the Panthéon, but that never happened. Back to Émile Zola, who in my view is above all a great novelist thanks to the series of novels he wrote about the Rougon-Macquart family.
If you’d like to get to know him a bit better, I recommend checking out the article: Émile Zola: A Walk Through Paris Following the Legacy of the Author of “J’Accuse”.
The newest residents: from Missak Manouchian to Robert Badinter
The Panthéon isn’t just a heritage site frozen in time, it’s a living place that continues to welcome the nation’s heroes even today. In February 2024, the remains of Missak and Mélinée Manouchian, heroes of the French Resistance during World War II (who were also foreigners and communists, which made their induction here a particularly moving historical event), were brought here. In addition, Robert Badinter, the late French Minister of Justice known for abolishing the death penalty in France, was also granted the great honor of being enshrined in the Panthéon in October 2025 (and a fascinating exhibition in his memory was on display there until May 2026).
What else can you see in the Panthéon of Paris?
Those were just a few interesting graves, but of course they aren’t the only ones. There are dozens more notable figures buried there (most of them fairly obscure politicians unfamiliar to most international visitors). If you’re already there, it’s worth wandering around and stopping by the tombstone of anyone who catches your interest, to learn a bit about their life story. If you do this in summer, you’ll not only get a history lesson, you’ll also get a pleasant dose of coolness, which is a fairly precious commodity in Paris during July and August.
As you make your way back up from the crypt, it’s worth pausing by Foucault’s pendulum (which also gave its name to Umberto Eco’s famous novel). This is a fascinating experiment conducted by the scientist Léon Foucault (1819-1868), which proves that the Earth rotates on its axis. How does it prove that? I took advanced physics in high school, but like every good student, I forgot all the material the second the final exam was over (unlike the less outstanding students, who forgot it the second before the exam). As a result, I have no idea how he managed to prove it, but there’s no doubt there’s something beautiful about a pendulum swinging through a space as vast and ornate as the Panthéon. (Did you know? The pendulum was first installed here in 1851 at the request of President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who wanted to invite Parisians to “come see the Earth turn.” It’s a massive brass weight of 36 kilograms, hanging from a 67-meter steel cable. Note that these days, due to restoration work on the building, the pendulum has been detached from its usual spot and is displayed under a glass case, but it’s still very much there.)
The Panthéon of Paris: Practical information
I hope this article has made you want to visit the Panthéon, whether to enjoy the beauty of the church or to pay your respects at the graves of some of France‘s greatest figures. Below you’ll find all the practical information you need.
How to get there?
Address: Place du Panthéon, 75005
Nearest Metro station: Luxembourg (RER B)
Opening hours
Opening hours vary by season (the site is open every day of the week):
- April 1 to October 31 (summer season): 10:00-18:30 (last admission at 17:45).
- November 1 to March 31 (winter season): 10:00-18:00 (last admission at 17:15).
The site is closed to visitors on January 1, May 1, and December 25.
Tickets
Even though it’s technically a church, admission to the Panthéon isn’t free. The price varies by season: tickets cost 16 euros in the summer season (April through September), except on Wednesdays, when the price drops to 13 euros. In the winter season (October through March) the standard rate is 13 euros. Visitors under 18 (or under 25 if they’re EU residents) get in for free. You can buy Panthéon tickets through this link. Note that the Panthéon is included in the Paris Museum Pass, so if you’ve bought one, you can enter the Panthéon at no extra charge (what a treat!).
If you’re also planning to visit Sainte-Chapelle, you can buy a combined ticket for both attractions, which will get you a 10% discount. You can buy it through this link.
Want to visit more cemeteries in Paris?
If this tour “whetted your appetite” and you’d like to visit more cemeteries in Paris, feel free to read the article The Cemeteries of Paris: If Only the Graves Could Talk.
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