The iconic neoclassical dome of the Panthéon on the Left Bank of Paris is both elegant and regal, and has been a part of the Parisian skyline since Louis XV commissioned its construction in 1750 as an abbey dedicated to Ste Geneviève, in thanksgiving for recovering from an illness. It wasn't completed until 1789 due to financial and structural problems. The abbey was then converted into a mausoleum for some of France’s most illustrious citizens, modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. A Foucault's pendulum was hung from the dome in 1851, which was the highest building in Paris until the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889.

The Panthéon is the resting place of many of France’s greatest thinkers, including Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Louis Braille, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, Pierre Brossolette, Jean Zay, Germaine Tillion, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Simone Veil. There is a permanent exhibition providing context on the lives and works of those interred there.