Pantheon

The Pantheon on the hill of Sainte-Genevieve in the Latin Quarter is France's national hall of fame. Begun in 1758 as a church to the patron saint of Paris, Jacques-Germain Soufflot's neoclassical domed building was rededicated during the Revolution as a secular tomb for great citizens. Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Emile Zola and Jean Moulin all rest in the crypt below. A replica of Foucault's pendulum still hangs under the dome, marking the spot where in 1851 Leon Foucault first publicly demonstrated the rotation of the Earth. Climb the 206 steps to the colonnade for an unusual rooftop view across the Latin Quarter, the Eiffel Tower and Sacre-Coeur. The pediment inscription, Aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissante, sums up the whole place.