Panthéon by Matthew Ernst (France Photo Spot)

The Panthéon is an imposting monument standing atop the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, at the center of the Place du Panthéon which was named after it. Built from 1758 to 1790 at the behest of King Louis XV of France, who meant it as a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve, the city’s patron saint, whose relics were to be housed there, but Louis XV didn’t live to see the church completed. Once the construction was finished, the French Revolution had started, and the National Constituent Assembly voted in 1791 to transform the Church of Saint Genevieve into a mausoleum for the remains of distinguished French citizens, modelled on the Pantheon in Rome which had been used in this way since the 16th century. www.paris-pantheon.fr (Paris, France)