France's highest honour: Five things to know about the Paris Panthéon
A popular tourist attraction and the highest honour available in France - here's what you need to know about the Panthéon building in Paris.
Built in a neo-classical style, the Panthéon was originally intended to be a church. Construction began in 1758 after it was commissioned by Louis XV and the design was intended to rival St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Construction took around 40 years and by the time it was finished, the political landscape in France had changed somewhat. The French Revolution began while building work was ongoing and by the time the Panthéon was finished in 1790 Louis XV's successor Louis XVI was in deep trouble. He would be sent to the guillotine in 1793.
The fate of the new building was surprisingly high up the priority list of the revolutionaries and one of the several new fledging citizen assemblies took a vote on the Panthéon on 1791 and decided to make it a kind of secular church - a mausoleum for the people judged to be France's most distinguished citizens.
Governments and monarchies have risen and fallen since then, but the Panthéon has remained the place where France's most valued sons (and a significantly fewer number of daughters) have been laid to rest.
Here are a few things to know about it;
1. It can be a verb
The building itself is obviously a noun - le Panthéon - but you will also hear panthéoniser used as a verb. In this context is means that a person will be given the honour of being interred inside the building.
You may have seen it used in news headlines when president Emmanuel Macron announced that US cabaret dancer Josephine Baker would be inducted into the Panthéon, or in the weeks prior to the addition of Armenian WWII resistance fighter Missak Manouchian to the Panthéon.
READ MORE: Who was Missak Manouchian and why is he important to foreigners in France?
Éternel. pic.twitter.com/wYIq53Uiwd
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 21, 2024
2. It's open to foreigners
Tradition has dictated that you must be a citizen of France to be panthéoniser. This changed when President Emmanuel Macron announced that the stateless refugee and 'Français de préférence' Missak Manouchian would be laid to rest in the Panthéon.
There are several other inhabitants who were not born French citizens. Josephine Baker was born and brought up in the USA before moving to France, marrying a Frenchman and taking French citizenship. Also inside the Panthéon is Nobel prize winner Marie Curie, who was born in Poland and only became French later.
So being an immigrant is no bar, as long as you achieve something truly outstanding while you are in France.
3. But you can't book a place in there
Entry to the Panthéon is decided by the country's ruler, which these days is the president but Napoleon inducted around 40 people during his reign. New members have often been inducted after a public campaign or petition, but the final decision lies with the president of the day.
Some people are buried straight away within the Panthéon, while others have their remains moved there later if their reputation has grown after their death. Josephine Baker died in 1975 and was buried in Monaco, where she was living at the time, but in November 2021 she was inducted into the Panthéon.
In the case of moving a body, the family's permission is sought first. If they are not happy with the idea, sometimes soil from a person's grave is moved to the Panthéon instead while the building also contains several urns that house the hearts of a preferred citizen.
READ ALSO Ashes, skulls, body parts - what's really inside the Panthéon?
The criteria is simply to be a distinguished French citizen, and occupants include writers, artists, scientists, politicians and campaigners.
4. It helps to be male (or married to someone amazing)
Missak Manouchian and his wife, Mélinée, will be the 82nd and 83rd members of the Panthéon.
Of the 81 people currently interred there, 75 are male. When Josephine Baker was laid to rest, she became the sixth woman and the first black woman.
The first woman to be interred there on her own merit was Marie Curie in 1993, but the first woman to be inducted was Sophie Berthelot. She was married to the distinguished chemist turned politician Marcellin Berthelot, who refused to be buried apart from his wife.
The other women there are the politician, abortion campaigner and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil and the Resistance fighters Germaine Tillion and Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz. Simone Veil's husband is also buried alongside her.
5. It's open to visitors
If you're worried that you're not fabulous enough to secure a permanent resting spot there, you can always go and visit. The building is beautiful and the permanent exhibition gives a lot of details about the many fascinating characters who are buried there.
A special exhibition about Missak Manouchian and his resistance comrades will run from February 23rd 2024 to September 8th - details here. The whole building is closed to visitors until February 22nd, to allow them to prepare for the induction ceremony.
Entry is free for children and €13 for adults. Book here.
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Built in a neo-classical style, the Panthéon was originally intended to be a church. Construction began in 1758 after it was commissioned by Louis XV and the design was intended to rival St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Construction took around 40 years and by the time it was finished, the political landscape in France had changed somewhat. The French Revolution began while building work was ongoing and by the time the Panthéon was finished in 1790 Louis XV's successor Louis XVI was in deep trouble. He would be sent to the guillotine in 1793.
The fate of the new building was surprisingly high up the priority list of the revolutionaries and one of the several new fledging citizen assemblies took a vote on the Panthéon on 1791 and decided to make it a kind of secular church - a mausoleum for the people judged to be France's most distinguished citizens.
Governments and monarchies have risen and fallen since then, but the Panthéon has remained the place where France's most valued sons (and a significantly fewer number of daughters) have been laid to rest.
Here are a few things to know about it;
You may have seen it used in news headlines when president Emmanuel Macron announced that US cabaret dancer Josephine Baker would be inducted into the Panthéon, or in the weeks prior to the addition of Armenian WWII resistance fighter Missak Manouchian to the Panthéon.
READ MORE: Who was Missak Manouchian and why is he important to foreigners in France?
Éternel. pic.twitter.com/wYIq53Uiwd
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 21, 2024
2. It's open to foreigners
Tradition has dictated that you must be a citizen of France to be panthéoniser. This changed when President Emmanuel Macron announced that the stateless refugee and 'Français de préférence' Missak Manouchian would be laid to rest in the Panthéon.
There are several other inhabitants who were not born French citizens. Josephine Baker was born and brought up in the USA before moving to France, marrying a Frenchman and taking French citizenship. Also inside the Panthéon is Nobel prize winner Marie Curie, who was born in Poland and only became French later.
So being an immigrant is no bar, as long as you achieve something truly outstanding while you are in France.
3. But you can't book a place in there
Entry to the Panthéon is decided by the country's ruler, which these days is the president but Napoleon inducted around 40 people during his reign. New members have often been inducted after a public campaign or petition, but the final decision lies with the president of the day.
Some people are buried straight away within the Panthéon, while others have their remains moved there later if their reputation has grown after their death. Josephine Baker died in 1975 and was buried in Monaco, where she was living at the time, but in November 2021 she was inducted into the Panthéon.
In the case of moving a body, the family's permission is sought first. If they are not happy with the idea, sometimes soil from a person's grave is moved to the Panthéon instead while the building also contains several urns that house the hearts of a preferred citizen.
READ ALSO Ashes, skulls, body parts - what's really inside the Panthéon?
The criteria is simply to be a distinguished French citizen, and occupants include writers, artists, scientists, politicians and campaigners.
4. It helps to be male (or married to someone amazing)
Missak Manouchian and his wife, Mélinée, will be the 82nd and 83rd members of the Panthéon.
Of the 81 people currently interred there, 75 are male. When Josephine Baker was laid to rest, she became the sixth woman and the first black woman.
The first woman to be interred there on her own merit was Marie Curie in 1993, but the first woman to be inducted was Sophie Berthelot. She was married to the distinguished chemist turned politician Marcellin Berthelot, who refused to be buried apart from his wife.
The other women there are the politician, abortion campaigner and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil and the Resistance fighters Germaine Tillion and Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz. Simone Veil's husband is also buried alongside her.
5. It's open to visitors
If you're worried that you're not fabulous enough to secure a permanent resting spot there, you can always go and visit. The building is beautiful and the permanent exhibition gives a lot of details about the many fascinating characters who are buried there.
A special exhibition about Missak Manouchian and his resistance comrades will run from February 23rd 2024 to September 8th - details here. The whole building is closed to visitors until February 22nd, to allow them to prepare for the induction ceremony.
Entry is free for children and €13 for adults. Book here.
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