Louis XV ordered this large, classical-styled church to be built in thanksgiving for his recovery from illness. However, by the time the church was completed, leaders of the French Revolution had the church converted into a national shrine for the burial of French heroes and intellectual figures.

The exterior of this mausoleum is very imposing and rather austere, with its rows of rows of columns and Greek-style pediment. The dome of the Panthéon weighs more than 9,100 metric tons (10,000 tons) and can be seen from miles around. Forty-two of the original church windows were bricked up during the Revolution to heighten the resemblance to a burial vault. As a result, the interior, though airy, is filled with shadow and Gallic gloom. However, the dead memorialized here read like the Who's Who of French history: Hugo, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Zola, Braille, and a number of war heroes are all buried here in suitably grandiose tombs.