Paris! Day Three

3.31.10

Jon thought I was being a little too brief in my previous posts... so this time I will try to describe things a little better. smile.

We went to the Pantheon on the third day.

It was built between 1757 and 1790 as an Abbey of St. Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris.

It went back and forth between a church and a governmental building for years until it became a mausoleum for prominent Frenchmen.

the exterior of the Pantheon

interior of the Pantheon

if you notice the awning things just under the ceiling, they are there to protect people from getting their heads bashed in when the concrete falls from above. I thought that was interesting.

ornate details in everything

an important Frenchmen entombed in the crypt below the Pantheon, where many famous people are buried, including Pierre and and Marie Curie, the famous physicists.

the building has massive murals lining the walls, depicting famous scenes of French history, such as St. Genevieve saving Paris, one of the kings being crowned, and Joan of Arc being burned.

the tallest part of the dome

In the middle of the Pantheon, there is a pendulum that reconstructs Foucault's famous experiment, which demonstrates the rotation of the earth.

drinking hot chocolate in a cafe next to the Pantheon

a beautiful church on our walk.

churches are everywhere in paris!