Panthéon
#7of 9 places to visit in ParisParis, Île-de-France, France
Also known as Panthéon de Paris
Quick answer
Opening hours: 10:00–18:30 and 10:00–18:00. Entry: €16. Allow 1.5 hrs. Best time: 10:00 opening.
Updated · Compiled by Traveliac, AI-assisted · 4 min read
- Opening hours
- 10:00–18:00
- 10:00-18:30 (April-September), 10:00-18:00 (October-March)
- Entry fee
- €16
- Ticket from
- Time needed
- 1.5 hrs
- Best time of day
- 10:00 opening
- Best months
- Apr – Jun, Sep – Oct
- Address
- Place du Panthéon, 75005 Paris
About Panthéon
The Panthéon in Paris holds the remains of 81 people honoured as grands hommes - great figures - of the French Republic, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, and Alexandre Dumas, interred beneath a Neoclassical dome modelled on Rome's Pantheon and St Paul's Cathedral in London. Architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot designed the building originally as a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve, Paris's patron saint, using a then-experimental technique of concealed iron reinforcement within the stone to achieve a dome and portico lighter and more daring than earlier French masonry construction permitted. A reconstruction of Léon Foucault's 1851 pendulum hangs from the dome's centre, demonstrating the Earth's rotation exactly as Foucault's original experiment did on this site, and swings continuously during opening hours.
Best time of day: 10:00 opening. The building draws fewer casual tourists than the Louvre or Eiffel Tower, so crowding is rarely severe, though school groups are common on weekday mornings during term time.
Panthéon timings
- Opening hours
- 10:00–18:00
Mon–Sun 10:00–18:30 and 10:00–18:00 - 10:00-18:30 (April-September), 10:00-18:00 (October-March)
- Closed on
- Open every day
Good to know: Opens at 12:00 on the first Monday of each month; ticket office closes 45 minutes before the building.
Opening hours compiled from paris-pantheon.fr and public records, last updated . They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides
Panthéon ticket price
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Standard ticket | €16 |
| Concession (student / senior) | Free |
| Children | Free |
€16 general admission, plus €3.50 on-site for dome (panorama) access, as of 2026. Free for EU/EEA residents under 26 and for children under 16. Verify current pricing and dome availability at the official site, since dome access runs on a reduced schedule.
Prices compiled from paris-pantheon.fr and public records, last updated . They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides
Best time to visit Panthéon
- Quiet
- Moderate
10:00 - 12:00
Morning OpeningBest time to go
Fewer visitors than most major Paris monuments; occasional school groups on weekday mornings.
Quiet12:00 - 15:00
Midday
Steadiest foot traffic of the day but rarely congested.
Moderate15:00 - 17:00
Afternoon
Crypt corridors remain walkable without significant queuing.
Moderate17:00 - 18:30
Late Afternoon Closing
Quietest window of the day, ideal for an unhurried crypt visit.
Quiet
History of Panthéon
King Louis XV commissioned the building in 1758 after recovering from a serious illness, vowing to replace the crumbling Abbey of Saint Genevieve with a grand new church if he survived; Jacques-Germain Soufflot's design, drawing on Roman and Gothic structural principles combined with an early use of iron reinforcement bars within the stone, began construction in earnest in 1764 but wasn't completed until 1790, after both Louis XV and Soufflot had died.
The Revolutionary National Assembly secularized the newly finished building in 1791, converting it into a mausoleum for citizens deemed to have served the nation with distinction, and it has swung between church and secular mausoleum functions several times since depending on the political character of the government in power - a Bourbon restoration returned it briefly to religious use in the 1820s, for instance. Léon Foucault used the building's height to demonstrate the Earth's rotation in 1851 with his famous pendulum experiment, conducted for Emperor Napoleon III shortly before the building's final conversion to a purely secular mausoleum under the Third Republic in 1885, coinciding with Victor Hugo's state funeral and interment.
Rules & etiquette at Panthéon
Bag checks apply at the entrance but queues are generally short compared with the Louvre or Eiffel Tower. Photography without flash is permitted throughout, including in the crypt where most of the 81 interred figures rest in individual chambers along stone-vaulted corridors.
Dome access, when open, requires a separate timed slot on top of general admission and involves a narrow spiral staircase; it runs on a more limited schedule than the main building and is sometimes suspended for maintenance, so it should not be assumed available without checking in advance.
Tips for visiting Panthéon
- 1
The crypt beneath the main hall is easy to underestimate from the nave alone - allow at least 45 minutes to walk its full corridor length, since the chambers holding Voltaire, Rousseau, and Marie Curie sit in different wings some distance apart. Marie Curie remains the only woman interred on her own scientific merit rather than as a spouse, a fact the on-site panels address directly.
- 2
The Panthéon sits at the high point of the Left Bank's Latin Quarter, a short walk from the Luxembourg Gardens and the Sorbonne, making it a natural pairing with an unhurried afternoon in that neighbourhood rather than a rushed single stop.
How to reach Panthéon
Place du Panthéon, 75005 ParisDirections in Google Maps
From Paris-Orly (ORY)
14 km · 35-45 min
€13.60
From Gare du Nord
5 km · 15-20 min
€2.15
From Gare de Lyon
4 km · 20 min
€2.15
Nearest airport
From Paris-Orly (ORY)
14 km, approximately 35-45 minutes via RER B.
Nearest station
From Luxembourg (RER B) or Cardinal Lemoine (Métro Line 10), both roughly 500m from the entrance.
Panthéon FAQs
Who is buried in the Panthéon in Paris?
81 people honoured as grands hommes of the French Republic, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Marie Curie, who remains the only woman interred on her own scientific merit rather than as a spouse.
Is the Foucault pendulum in the Panthéon the original?
No, it is a reconstruction of Léon Foucault's 1851 experiment, which he originally conducted at this site to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. It hangs from the dome and swings continuously during opening hours.
Was the Panthéon always a mausoleum?
No. Jacques-Germain Soufflot originally designed it as a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve, completed in 1790. The Revolutionary government secularized it into a mausoleum the following year, and it has switched between religious and secular use several times since, settling permanently as a mausoleum in 1885.
Does Panthéon admission include the dome?
No. General admission is €16 as of 2026; the dome (panorama) requires an additional €3.50 on-site and runs on a separate, more limited schedule that can be suspended for maintenance.
Compiled with AI assistance from official sources and public records, and published only after the checks in How we write these guides. Nobody from Traveliac has visited this place. Last updated . How we rank and check places
