Uphill, you'll reach the top of the hill dedicated to Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. Surrounded by a round of columns, you can see the splendid white dome of the Pantheon that was built in the second half of the 18th century and is a masterful example of the rising Neoclassicism.
At the center of a large square, the building was first a church devoted to the saint, but then lost its sacred character after the Revolution and was transformed, with some renovations, into the Temple of the Homeland. It was then reconsecrated in the Napoleonic era, but continued to be the burial and celebratory site of illustrious men until its definitive deconsecration in 1885 at Victor Hugo's funeral.
The remains of philosophers, writers and politicians lay here, as well as those of one woman: Marie Curie, for her scientific accomplishments.
If you visit its interior, you'll discover how truly majestic the Pantheon is with its solemn rows of grooved columns supporting arches and loggias. In the vast space of its central dome 67 meters tall, you can see the famous pendulum of Foucault, which is the sphere the great physicist used to demonstrate the oscillation of the Earth's axis in 1851.
