Pantheon, the mausoleum of the national outstanding citizens of France, is located in the Latin Quarter. Once there was an old church Abbey of St Genevieve, but to the middle of the XVIII century, it fell into disrepair. Serious illness, Louis XV vowed - if he recovers, it will restore the temple.

In 1764 he recovered the monarch with his own hands laid the foundation stone for the new church. The project involved the construction of a building resembling ancient temples. In terms it represented a Greek cross, laid in the center of a huge dome (23 meters in diameter). The dome was supported by light columns. Even before the completion of the construction has come to light, however, misjudgment: light columns were not sufficiently strong, they had to be strengthened.

The building was completed in 1789, on the eve of the revolution. The new authorities are hostile to religion, we call it the Pantheon, and dedicated to great men of France. Here they were buried the remains of Voltaire, Rousseau, Marat. A few years later the remains of Marat endured.

When Napoleon returned to the status of the temple of the church, but its crypt continued to bury those who became famous talent or heroic deeds. After the Restoration Church of richly - at that time there were painted ceilings with paintings of French history, starting with Charlemagne. One of the paintings was planned to devote to Bonaparte, but times came ineligible, and painter, Baron Gros, diplomatically portrayed the return of the Bourbons - Louis XVI and his wife and son in the clouds.

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

In the Pantheon the ashes of many prominent people: Victor Hugo, the Curies, Louis Braille, Emile Khol, Jean Jaures.

Pantheon is now conducting an ambitious nationwide campaign to raise donations for the restoration of the building. Every French citizen has the right to make a donation, receiving a tax deduction. Donor also receives, depending on the size of the contribution, the special status - from "companion of Fame" to "friend and patron of the Pantheon."