The Pantheon is now equipped with the GuestViews digital guestbook thanks to the “Innovative Digital Cultural Services” Call for projects by the Ministry of Culture! The Pantheon is managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux and it is one of the most prestigious places of culture in Paris. This architectural masterpiece started as a royal church and became a republican temple. Visiting the Pantheon is an incredible experience both because of the illustrious men and women that rest inside it and because of the technical and artistic prowess that it represents.
The construction of the neo-classical monument was finished in 1790. It was built at Louis the 15th’s command and was intended to become the Sainte-Geneviève church, with the ambition to rival Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome – which is why its architecture is so majestic. When French writer and politician Mirabeau died in 1791, the idea was had to bring the graves of the great men of the Nation together in the church, turning it into a republican temple. However, the agitated political climate in 19th century France meant it was only around the end of the century that the Pantheon truly realised this potential.
The first men whose graves were transferred in the Pantheon were Rousseau and Voltaire. Now, seventy-four great men and women rest inside it. Three women are there on their own merits: Marie Curie, Germaine Tillion and Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz*. In addition to great men and women, you can discover the unique décor of the Pantheon as well as the Foucault pendulum at the centre of the building, with which scientists demonstrated the fact that the Earth spins!
Numerous exhibitions take place inside the Pantheon. For the occasion of the burial of new resistance fighters, “Four Lives Resisting” allows you to get acquainted with Pierre Brossolette, Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz, Germaine Tillion and Jean Zay. This tribute is also meant to provoke thought on the values that these personalities represented. The GuestViews app is thus used as a mediation tool, asking the visitors to write and share their vision of the concept of resistance.
A crucial place of the republican mythology, the Pantheon is a place you can’t miss in Paris. From now on, we’re excited to welcome your opinions about it on the GuestViews digital guestbook!
*since 1 July 2017, Simone Veil was “pantheonised” and brought this number up to four!