Note: This blog is actually 2 blogs: the posts on top are from our 2022 trip and the posts at the bottom are from a trip we took in 2018. Check the "Recent Post" column or the bottom of each post to determine the post dates.
The humongous Pantheon is the final resting place of many French VIPs and the home of the Foucault pendulum. King Louis XV had the church built as a replacement for St. Genevieve’s ruined church aftr she miraculously healed him. Begun in 1744, it was finished in 1791 when the revolution was in full swing and it was converted into a nonreligious mausoleum honoring the Champions of French Liberty. Many famous French men now call the Pantheon their final resting place.
This building is huge!
In the front hall.
The Foucault Pendulum
Love those long, lighted hallways.
Victor Hugo’s tomb
Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas’ inscriptions.
Interesting piece about Braille who also found a resting place here. (Sorry it got cut off)
Rousseau’s Tomb
Voltaire’s statue and tomb.
A beautiful glass dome.
The Convention Nationale Monument. “Marianne,” the fictional woman who symbolized the Revolution, stands in the center, flanked by soldiers who fight for her and citizens who pledge allegiance to her. The inscription below reads “Live free or die.” (I believe Marianne later moved to New Hampshire.)
I Love Paris in the Springtime 