We started our Paris sightseeing from Pantheon as it deemed fit to pay respects to the great French citizens who have been buried there in the crypt. When we entered the sacred space, we were greeted by the swinging Foucault’s Pendulum hung from the center of the high beautiful dome. It was the first indication that science is indeed sacred in this secular land.

Pantheon was commissioned by King Louis XV in 1758 and was completed only in 1790 with interruptions and slowing down in between. The main design architect of Pantheon was Jacques-Germain Soufflet but as construction slowed down, his student Jean-Baptist-Rondelet supervised it after this death in 1780. What a magnificent neoclassical structure it is!

France honours great french scholars by burying them or their remains here. The list of great French men-women buried here is long and illustrious  starting with Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Louis Braille, Emile Zola, Marie Curie, Carnot and many others. There is a memorial for Antoine de Saint-Exupery as his remains could not be found after he disappeared in his aircraft. Here are some of photographs of the amazing Pantheon. Do spare time for the guided tour to the top of the Pantheon to get 360 degrees panoramic view of Paris. And don’t forget to enter the crypts to visit resting place of the great. It literally gave me goosebumps to trudge in the place where great minds are buried. These great souls have been guiding light for many of us…