The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1908-09-16
THE FAMOUS PANTHEON.
Magnificent Tomb Of Many Of the
Great Men Of France.

Great Men Of France.
The Pantheon in which the atternt
was made to assassinate Major Drey-
fus has been called the Westminster
abbey of France. Famous men of
France are entombed there. On it's
site Clovis built a church to the apos-
ties. 1t has been sacred ground since
500 years after the birth of Christ.
The church built by Clovis was de-
stroyed by Norman pirates about the
year 1000. 1t was replaced by the alb
hey Of st. Genevieve, Of which now
only the bell tower remains. Louis
XIV. built the Pantheon. 1t was a
splendid pile, the combined work of
two famous French architects, Souf-
fot and Rondelet. It is in the form Of
a Greek cross. In front it has a 81.
perb portico Of twenty-five Corinthian
columns sixty-fve feet high, reposing
on a magnificent perron Of twelve
mighty steps. In the interior are six.
teen windows, with thirty-two CORN.
THAN columns, and high above all,
more than 800 feet in the air, stretches
its vast dome.
Here lie Mirabeau. voltaire, Jean
Jacques Rousseau. Marshal Lannes
and many other famous Frenchmen.
The building Is filed with superb fres-
Goes, and it is the goal Of every ambi-
tious Frenchman to find a resting place
here among the honored dead Of his
race.
Napoleon the Great took the Pan
theon and turned 1t over to the eccle-
siastical authorities. who n more
called the structure the Church Of st.
but 1t still remained in the
eyes of all Frenchmen the resting
place Of the hero dead Of their a
Lannes was buried In its crypt. Then
came Portals, Cabanis, Wien, La
grange, Bongainville. In all, thirty.
nine Napoleonic heroes, statesmen and
great citizens were put there, with
grandiose professions, cannons BOOM
ing, solemn music, solemn discourse,
flags and flowers, with vast multitudes
surrounding.
With the restoration Louis XVIII,
liking the Pantheon idea without the
name, had Gros begin the
great work of interior decoration. In
the high part of the dome he painted
the apotheosis Of st. Genevieve. Dur
Ing this period a few statesmen and
soldiers had the honor Of being buried
In the crypt. Souf]ot was the last, in
1929; then came the popular revolution
Of 1880.
During the siege Of Paris the crypt
was used as a powder magazine. When
the leaders of the commune were
pressed down that way they took It for
headquarters.
The ecclesiastical authorities remain
ed in charge from the second empire
until 1886. The death Of Victor Hugo
put them to embarrassment. The
French government decreed that the
great poet be put in the Pantheon
crypt, and MS he went in the eccle-
authorities went out. It has
been said that Voltaire and Rousseau
had been taken out years previously.
Then years ago, therefore, the republic
wished to know the truth. Reverently,
scientifically and historically the two
sepulchers were opened. They were
found intact.
In 1880 parliament decreed that the
remains Of four more Napoleonic he
roes be transported to the Pantheon.
They were Lazare Carnot, grandfather
of the martyred president; Marceau,
colonel at sixteen and general at
tw%enty-one;" Baudin, the Republican
revolutionary representative Of 1S4S,
and De la Tour d'Auvergne, "the pre-
mier grenadier of France."-Balttmore
American.