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Introduction

Pantheon-Sorbonne

Arenes deLutece Contrescarpe-rue Mouffetard

Rue de la Huchette Saint Severin-Saint Julien le Pauvre Musee de Cluny

A walk through the old quartier Latin-Cour de Rohan-Commerce
Cafe Procope

Booksellers along the Seine-Institut du Monde Arabe

Paris-5th arr-Pantheon-Sorbonne

Paris dining world!!!!

“Gloire à notre France éternelle ! Gloire à ceux qui sont morts pour elle!....C’est pour ces morts que dont l’ombre ici est bienvenue, que le haut Panthéon s’élève dans la rue. » This poem of Victor Hugo out of “Chants du Crépuscule III” is very appropriate to this monument to the glory of France’s great personalities. Translated freely, it means:” Glory to eternal France! Glory for those who died for their country!…It’s for those deaths that this Pantheon is erected here”. When Hugo wrote this phrase in 1827, he didn’t know that once he would be part of this shrine as one of the great figures of France’s history.Let’s start our walk here, on the square in front of the PANTHEON. If you have the time you could first go to the Musee National du Moyen Age et des Thermes de Cluny (I will describe in another article) or the courtyard of the Sorbonne. Anyway, the walk from the Sorbonne to the Pantheon is quite short. Passing on your way, you will run along some famous high schools like the lycee Louis le Grand where famous pupils went like Robespierre, Victor Hugo, Moliere, Baudelaire (thrown out for bad behavior!) and even Pompidou.  

A little bit of history: we are in 1744 and Louis XV is very ill during the siege of Metz. So he makes a vow, a promise that if he gets better and regains his health, he will build an abbey church in honor of Sainte-Genevieve, the patron of Paris. But he gets better much too fast…..! And who pays for the costs? The citizens of Paris of course. The building starts in 1764 but is only finished in the middle of the French revolution, 1791. Very bad timing ;-)! The revolutionaries decide to turn it into a mausoleum where the great personalities of France would get their final resting place. The first to be buried was Mirabeau, followed by Rousseau and Voltaire. But when the shocking news came that Mirabeau had been a good pal of Louis XVI, he was pulled out and had to give his place to Marat. The poor “Marat” would not be left in peace for long since another problem came up! Indeed, a law of 1795 decreed that you needed to be dead at least for 10 years before earning a spot in the Pantheon. Out went Marat, finally buried at the cemetery of Saint-Etienne du Mont. In 1885 Victor Hugo found hid way to the Pantheon. Since then, the purpose of the Pantheon didn’t move an inch. Emile Zola, Jean Moulin, Louis Braille (inventor of the Braille writing for the blind), Jean Jaures, Pierre and Marie Curie were all buried with great pump. The great refurbishing of the Pantheon, which is being on now, will last until 2010 at the least.

The interior of the Pantheon is mainly impressive by its extent. The floor outlay is 110 meters long and 85 meters wide in the form of a cross. But it’s from a distance that the Pantheon looks the most beautiful. The best perspective is from the rue Soufflot, when you arrive from the boulevard Saint-Michel.

Stroll along the streets lying in a circle around the place du Pantheon. You will meet City hall of the 5th arrondissement, the Faculté de Droit (Law school), and the BIBLIOTHEQUE SAINTE-GENEVIEVE founded in 1624. This library has more than half a million books and thousands of manuscripts. But you must have a library card to enter this books shrine.

A short walk will bring you now to the church of SAINT-ETIENNE DU MONT, facing the Pantheon.

Saint Etienne du Mont

This church is worth a visit especially because of the very successful combination of different styles: the gabled roof above the portal is classic, the rose window in the facade gothic and the cupola of the bell tower shows Renaissance influences. Notice the remarkable choir gallery (16th century), the only one in Paris not connected with the nave of the church. All other similar galleries in Paris were destroyed during the 18th century. The baroque organ and the wainscoting of the pulpit are outstanding, and so is the stained glass window from the 16th and 17th century in the “Galerie des Charniers”. 

Sorbonne Chapel Ste Ursule

Going back through the rue Soufflot, take the rue Victor Cousin to the right and you’ll walk straight into the SORBONNE, the most famous symbol of French tradition. Its history goes back to the 12th century when it was only a small theological faculty with some private homing. The faculty was closed during the French revolution but Napoleon turned it into the first French university. The present building you see dates from the 19th century. If you manage to get inside (no problem, just act as a student or a professor), you will notice the sundial in the interior courtyard and the painted walls in the reading rooms. The chapel of the Sorbonne, where Richelieu is buried, can only be visited during special exhibitions or at special request.  

Bibliography: Vie et histoire des arrondissments de Paris, ed.Hervas, 1985-1988, 20 volumes—Nouvelle Histoire de Paris, ed.Hachette (20 vol.since 1971), Le piéton de Paris, by L.P. Fargue, ed.Gallimard 1997—Paris, 2000 ans d'histoire by J.Favier ed.Fayard 1997---Guide du Routard 1998-99.