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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2012 12:54:52 GMT
I don't usually cover the monuments of Paris, but the Panthéon is unjustly ignored although absolutely everybody has seen it from the outside. Anywhere you go in Paris that has a panoramic view -- the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the towers of Notre Dame, the department store terraces, the Tour Montparnasse -- you will see the dome of the Panthéon, which makes the dome of the Invalides look small by comparison. The Panthéon has a rather tormented history. First of all, it was planned and built as a church. Louis XV was extremely ill in Metz in 1744 and made one of those crazy royal promises. "If I survive, I promise to build a church to honour Saint Geneviève!" However, it took awhile to get things done in those days and it wasn't until 1755 that architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot was chosen to build the church. It took another 3 years to bless the site and start digging the foundations. I really don't see how people can complain about red tape in modern times compared to how things used to get done. The cornerstone was laid by the king in 1764. In the next decade, with the revolution brewing, there was a persistent rumour that the whole thing under construction was going to collapse because the foundations were not good enough. This slowed down the work, money was running low, and Soufflot died in 1780. In spite of the revolution, it was completed by Soufflot's associates in 1790, but they discarded a lot of the good and complicated stuff. Religion having been abolished, it was out of the question to open the building as a church, but there was admiration for Westminster Abbey across the Channel, which was already used as a place to honour the illustrious dead. The Rotonde de la Villette was almost chosen for this, but in the end there was a governmental decree in 1791, and the Panthéon was born. A lot of the religious stuff was stripped off, and the famous words " Aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissante" were engraved on the front. To this day in Paris, when you give another Parisian a rendezvous at Place du Panthéon (the official name), most people will affectionately say " Place des Grands Hommes" instead. The fact that there was a very popular song by Patrick Bruel with this title helps to perpetuate this. Naturally, during the Restoration, it became a church again. Even though it remained a place for famous remains, the name on the front was taken off because a royal decree in 1816 demanded that "anything extraneous to the Catholic church" be removed. During the short-lived Second Republic, it stopped being a church and became the " Temple de l'Humanité" from 1848 to 1851. And then during the Second Empire, it became a church again. During the siege of 1870, it was used as a munitions depot, and during the Commune in 1871 it was also a munitions depot. At that time the branches were sawn off the cross at the top of the building and a red flag was placed there. It was only at the death of Victor Hugo in 1885 that the government finally said "the hell with this church business!" and made it the Panthéon again. However, the cross on top has been allowed to remain. Let's take a look inside. In the centre is Foucault's pendulum. This was a great PR operation in 1851. The first pendulum was set up at the nearby Paris observatory and mysterious invitations were sent out: "You are invited to come and see the rotation of the Earth." Reaction was sensational, since this was the age when science and invention were of keen interest even to the common man, so they decided they needed a bigger venue to present this to the general public -- the Panthéon. In the following years, Foucault pendulums were set up all over the world....
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2012 13:46:16 GMT
It is not overloaded with decoration, which makes the volume of the building even more impressive. There are a few paintings and things to explain the importance of Saint Geneviève, patron saint of Paris. She protected Paris from an invasion by Attila the Hun!
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Post by mossie on Nov 20, 2012 14:33:07 GMT
The history is very interesting, almost a history of Paris over the last two centuries. I had wondered about visiting, perhaps I can summon up the energy on my next trip.
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Post by htmb on Nov 20, 2012 14:50:50 GMT
I've stayed a five minute walk away from the Pantheon for the past three summers. I've certainly walked around the building several times, but have never been inside. Perhaps on the next trip. Maybe. I read a very interesting essay a few months ago, perhaps in National Geographic, about some of the underground types who crept into the Pantheon in the middle of the night and worked to restore a clock. Are you familiar with this story, kerouac? Here's a link to an article in The Guardian.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 20, 2012 17:12:44 GMT
Great photos Kerouac on a very wonderful place! Htmb - I'm sure you will rectify the situation next visit! I have stayed close-by on one visit and visited the mightly Pantheon. I have a wonderful book which describes the area so vividly it puts chills down my spine. "If on a grey morning you should zig-zag through and around the quarter, starting along the stolid Rue Monge, you'll come to the Arenes De Lutece, the Roman arena built when the city was called Lutetia, and still in use today. Then, if you walk up the hill to the corner of the Rue St.Jacques and the Rue Soufflot, you'll see ahead of you, just across the Seine, the fifteenth-century Tour St.Jacques rising out of the mists of the river. On your right is the great dome of the Pantheon: a mile (1.6km) away on your left, towering over the mists, the Eiffel Tower; And behind you, the Arenes De Lutece. You are truly at the corner of the centuries! You are also at the corner of today and tomorrow. For more than any city of the Western World, Paris is both a city of yesterday and a city of now, timeless rather than frozen in time". I have done this exact route more than once but of course in Summer so there weren't any mists rising off the Seine. I would love to see that! Perhaps now that winter is upon Paris, a lone stroller on an early morning walk may capture these mists and display them here for all to see.........
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2012 17:45:56 GMT
Frankly, there were also rows and rows of unknown generals and whatnot, which just goes to show that even when you are entombed in the Panthéon, just because you were greatly admired 150 years ago, it doesn't mean that anybody will remember anything about you now. For example.... Aimé Césaire is the person honoured the most recently in the Panthéon, even though his grave is in his beloved Martinique. The local middle school in my neighbourhood bears his name, and he will even have his own metro station in two years, when the extension of metro line 12 is completed in Aubervilliers. Victor Schoelcher was one of the 3 persons whose tombs were singled out to be honoured by François Mitterrand during his first inaugural ceremony in 1981. He put an end to slavery in 1848 for the second and last time. (Slavery was abolished in 1802 but reinstated by Napoleon for his empire building requirements.) The other people honoured by Mitterrand were Jean Jaurès, father of the modern French left, and Jean Moulin, the principal resistance hero from WW2. This event in 1981 managed to pique new interest in the Panthéon, which had been totally neglected and forgotten by the government since 1964.
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Post by bjd on Nov 20, 2012 20:22:02 GMT
Well, thanks for this, Kerouac. This is the kind of place I never visit. Don't like that architectural period to start with, and I find it all kind of bare and monumental. So now I know what it looks like.
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Post by mossie on Nov 21, 2012 8:08:08 GMT
There was a good clear out of generals between 1809 - 10, presumably a bad period in the Napoleonic wars. By the way, on your last picture. Crop out all the top Eiffel Tower and roofs, and just leave the trees and lamp posts, gives an Old Master feel to it. As I scrolled down the page it just happened to stop there
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Post by tod2 on Nov 21, 2012 11:04:25 GMT
I particularly like the last two photos - looking straight down Rue Soufflot towards the Eiffel Tower. This is the route to take if you want to stand on the corner of Rue Soufflot & Rue Saint Jacques with all the centuries going in different directions on the horizon.
You're right Mossie - the cropped photo does give an old feel to it, but I also like the Eiffel Tower looming like a super skyscraper in the distance.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on Nov 21, 2012 13:58:23 GMT
On one of the travel forums a few months ago I remember someone posting a story about the people who sneak into the dome of the Panthéon from time to time. One of the things they did was fix the clock on the dome, which had been non-functional for quite some time. Of course the city officials un-fixed it shortly thereafter.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2012 14:05:55 GMT
Yes, htmb gave a link to the article about it in #3. The Panthéon is in grave need of fixing in any case. The dome was closed a year or two ago and it probably has no chance of reopening for at least a decade. The whole building is falling apart, because there are nets and closed off areas everywhere. With all of the current budget restrictions, there is no money to work on this building since very few tourists come to visit in any case. Here is the Untergunther's own website: ugwk.org/Untergunther_Press.html
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Post by lagatta on Nov 21, 2012 14:36:36 GMT
Yes, I've been near it many times, but never particularly wanted to visit. Probably because I prefer outdoor cemeteries with trees as well as tombs. Perhaps I will - thanks for the virtual visit.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on Nov 21, 2012 16:29:11 GMT
Ah, yes. That's the article I read. I've only been inside The Panthéon once and although it didn't overwhelm me I wondered why it didn't receive more attention from visitors. It's still a pretty impressive building with interesting history and several notable folks buried there.
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Post by bjd on Nov 23, 2012 12:54:33 GMT
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Post by lola on Nov 23, 2012 23:03:22 GMT
I'm glad to see this, too, Kerouac. I don't think I'd have taken the time to go inside otherwise.
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Post by fgrsk8r1970 on Apr 23, 2013 1:35:46 GMT
As a first time visitor 4 years ago we actually went inside because I read there were no lines and to purchase the musee pass there (which we did) and really enjoyed it more than we thought. I believe it was the first monument we visited on our second day :-) and the first view we got of the Eiffel Tower. Thanks for the extra info that we never knew about!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2014 19:26:34 GMT
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Post by lagatta on Feb 21, 2014 16:15:35 GMT
I just noticed the cat - looks like and Egyptian cat statue? Whom is it watching over?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2014 17:50:57 GMT
Well, clearly one of the four people in that alcove or perhaps all four of them.
Today, the names of four new honourees from WW2 were announced: Germaine Tillon (ethnologist and resistance leader), Jean Zay (politician assassinated by the Vichy militia), Geneviève de Gaulle (niece of the general, who was deported and survived to become the president of a major aid association for the destitute) and Pierre Brossolette (journalist and resistance hero who jumped to his death from the 4th floor while being tortured so that he wouldn't reveal any secrets). The ceremony will not take place until 2015 (perhaps when the bandages come off?).
It had already been decided that they need to get more women into the Panthéon.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 21, 2014 20:26:47 GMT
Does that mean Tillion and G. de Gaulle would be reburied there?
Unfortunately I never met Tillion; she died not many years ago and researchers I know who study that period and related subjects did meet her. She lived to be 100 (so did Miep Gies, who protected and took food and supplies to the Frank family in Amsterdam).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2014 20:29:34 GMT
Yes, the remains of those 4 people will be brought to the Panthéon.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2014 11:35:46 GMT
The street artist JR is going to cover the tarp protecting the dome of the Panthéon with thousands of anonymous photographic portraits. There will also be photos inside and on various walls. If you want to be part of the Panthéon, all you have to do is send your photo to this website: www.au-pantheon.fr/fr/There is also a photo truck going to several national monuments around France during the month of March 2014 in which JR will take photographs of anybody interested.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2014 20:22:32 GMT
The display will remain for at least a year, probably longer.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2014 17:25:54 GMT
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Post by bastien on Jun 30, 2014 13:09:12 GMT
I need to see those faces for myself. I had not heard about them.
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Post by nycgirl on Jul 11, 2014 4:06:34 GMT
What an amazing installation! I am one of those people who is not terribly interested in visiting the Pantheon. Although I love history, the building strikes me as a little stuffy and turgid. With so much to see and do in Paris, you have to pick your battles. I would see this in a heartbeat, though.
I love the contrast between the grand neoclassical architecture and the portraits of modern, everyday people. I like the way you captured the spectators as well.
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Post by lola on Jul 12, 2014 0:55:08 GMT
A pantheon for the common person, plus someone who looks like Dali. Thank you France for honoring the spirit of egalite at least sometimes.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2016 21:26:24 GMT
Years have passed and obviously the renovation of the Panthéon has been completed. However, it has only been a couple months since they have allowed people to climb all the way up to the dome again. It is well worth the effort, even though the climb was not at all as arduous as I feared. Limited groups with escorts are allowed to climb for 2 euros every 40 minutes. They make sure that nobody is left behind or finds oneself in difficulty at any time. The view is magnificent. Since I was not the only Anyport member to make this visit, perhaps others will be able to add better photos of the experience.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 4, 2016 6:15:19 GMT
I am embarrassed that I somehow missed this report when it came out and when it was updated before. It's a great illumination on a place that everyone knows about, but so many (I, for instance) know nothing about.
You really made some great pictures and I love the "oldified" ones. What is the fort-looking red brick building in the penultimate photo and are those smokestacks ringing the top of it?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2016 18:24:42 GMT
You have a good eye, Bixa, because the brick building that looks like a fort is indeed one of the most interesting buildings in the area. It is the Institute of Art and Archeology (address: 6 avenue de l'Observatoire). It was built in the mid-1920's. Since things tend to move around, it currently houses the school of art history of the University of Paris. The archeology department has moved closer to the centre of the city. I know that I took pictures of the building and posted them somewhere here, but I have no idea where. There are magnificent details to be seen on the building up close, particularly the bas-reliefs made of brick, but I will just pull up one of the commercial shots of the building for the moment.
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