The Pantheon, the national mausoleum of the prominent citizens of France, located in the Latin quarter. Once there was an ancient Church of the Abbey of St. Genevieve, but by the mid-eighteenth century it fell into disrepair. Seriously ill, Louis XV vowed if he will recover, we will rebuild the temple.

In 1764 recovered the monarch with his own hands laid the first Foundation stone of the new Church. The project involved the construction of a building resembling a Greek temple. In terms it represented a Greek cross, covered in the centre the huge dome (23 meters in diameter). The dome was supported by light pillars. Even before the completion of the building was revealed, however, a miscalculation: light pillars were not strong enough, they had to be strengthened.

The building was completed in 1789, on the eve of the revolution. The new government, a hostile attitude towards religion, called the Pantheon, and dedicated to the great people of France. Here are buried the remains of Voltaire, Rousseau, Marat. After a few years the ashes of Marat made.

Under Napoleon, the Church was returned to the status of the Church, but in the crypt continued to bury those who became famous talents or heroic feats. After the restoration of the Church is richly decorated in the painted ceilings with paintings of French history, starting with Charlemagne. One of the paintings was planned to devote Bonaparte, but times have come wrong, and the artist, Baron Gros, diplomatic depicted the return of the Bourbons – Louis XVI with his wife and son on the clouds.

After the revolution of 1830, the Church finally became a national Pantheon. In 1851 physicist Foucault spent here, the classic experience with a pendulum under the arch, demonstrating the rotation of the Earth.

In the Pantheon lie the remains of many famous people: Victor Hugo, spouses Curie, Louis Braille, Hola Emile, Jean Jaures.

Now the Pantheon holds Grand nationwide campaign to solicit donations for the restoration of the building. Every French citizen has the right to make a contribution and get a tax deduction. The donor also receives, depending on the size of the fee, the special status - from "the companion of glory" to "the friend and patron of the Pantheon".