Panthéon
A church that outgrew religion: on and off since 1791, it's where France entombs the people it refuses to forget.
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Léon Foucault hung his pendulum here in 1851 to prove the Earth spins; a replica still swings under Soufflot's triple stone dome. Below, the crypt holds Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo, Zola and Marie Curie, with Josephine Baker honoured by a 2021 cenotaph (her remains stay in Monaco).
What to look for
- The Foucault pendulum beneath the dome, its plane of swing rotating over the hours, the 1851 proof that the Earth turns (a replica of the original 67-metre wire).
- David d'Angers's 1837 pediment out front: the Nation handing out crowns passed to her by Liberty, to France's great men, civil and military. Below it runs the line 'Aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissante', first carved in 1791, stripped under the restored monarchy, put back in 1830.
- In the crypt, Voltaire and Rousseau, plus Marie Curie (moved here in 1995, the first woman honoured on her own merit) and Josephine Baker (inducted 2021).
Place du Panthéon, 5th arrondissement, Latin Quarter; the payoff is indoors, the pendulum and crypt, not just the colonnaded facade.
Panthéon is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Paris, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Paris pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Paris
- Eiffel TowerThe 300-metre iron tower Parisian artists petitioned against before it was even finished.
- Louvre MuseumThe world's most-visited museum lives inside a 12th-century fortress that became a royal palace.
- Notre-Dame de ParisThe spire fell on live TV in April 2019; since December 2024 you can walk back inside.
- Musée d'OrsayVan Gogh and Monet hung inside a Beaux-Arts station built for the Paris–Orléans railway.
- Champs-ÉlyséesA single 1.9-km straight line runs from the Concorde obelisk to the Arc de Triomphe — Paris's ceremonial spine on the Axe historique.
- Place de la BastilleThe prison that lit a revolution is gone — and the mob that stormed it on 14 July 1789 came for gunpowder, not the seven forgotten men inside.