Panthéon

Le Panthéon

Temple to the Intellectuals of France

Description

Modeled after the original Pantheon in Rome, the Panthéon was finished in 1789, and was originally designated to be a church honoring St. Genevieve.This French take on Neoclassical architecture is found in the Latin Quarter of Paris and is designed to look like a Greek cross from the inside. Outside the familiar looking portico with its Corinthian columns is reminiscent of the original Pantheon in Rome, yet the center dome is a striking incorporation of Gothic styles with neoclassicism. What's evident from above hardly begins to express what dives below the surface here at the Panthéon, which it is most well known for. The Panthéon's vast crypt is the final secular resting place for many Parisians and Frenchmen who have all made innumerable contributions to French culture. A few of the people interned here include: Voltaire, Emile Zola, Victor Hugo, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The Panthéon is both an appropriate and awe-inspiring building to the great Frenchmen of tradition and culture.