The monumental domed building was actually supposed to be a church. When the Paris Panthéon was completed in 1790 during the French Revolution, the leaders of the Revolution quickly converted the building into a national hall of fame. From then on, important figures in France were honoured there. In the course of history, a total of 78 personalities have found their final resting place here, including the writer Victor Hugo and the philosopher Voltaire. The first woman to be honoured was the chemist and physicist Marie Curie. Although she came from Poland, she lived and worked in France.
But what makes this place a worthwhile destination for science enthusiasts in particular is the Foucault pendulum: with a 28-kilogram iron ball suspended from the ceiling of the Panthéon by a 67-metre-long rope théon, French physics teacher Léon Foucault was able to present the public with a relatively simple demonstration of the Earth’s rotation on 26 March 1851 – a world view that was not particularly widespread at the time.
Photo: Pantheon in Paris. Photo: Unsplash/Nicolas Savignat.
