The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-08-21
THE FAMOUS PANTHEON.

HE FAMOUS PAN THEON.
Magnificent Tomb of Many Of the
Great Men of France.
The Pantheon in which the attempt
was made to assassinate Major Drey-
fus has been called the Westminster
abbey of France. Famous men Of
France are entombed there. On its
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-
dot and Rondelet. 1t is in the form of
q Greek cross. In front 1t has a SUI
perb portico of twenty-five Corinthian
columns sixty-dve 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 ar, stretches
IT. vast dome.
Here lie Mirabeau. voltaire. Jean
Jacques Rousseau, Marshal Lanncs
and many other famous Frsnchmen.
The building Is filed with superb fre4-
Goes, and it is the goal Of every ambi-
tdous Frenchman to ind q resting place
here among the honored dead Of hiD
race.
Napoleon the Great took ths Pan
theon and turned It over to the eccle-
siastical authorities. who onee more
called the structure the Church Of st
Gensvieve. but 1t st1l remained In the
eyes Of all Frenchmen the resting
place Of tho hero dead Of thetr q
Lannes was buried in its Crypt Then
came Portals. Cabanis. vIsn, La
grange. Bongainville. In an, thirty
nine Napolcsnic heroes. statesmen and
great citizens were put there. with
grandiose professions. cannons boon-
ing. solemn music, solemn discourse.
fags and flowers. with vast mulitHdes
surrounding.
With the restoration Louis XVIII,
liking the Pantheon idea without the
Pantheon 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. Souflot wal the last. In
1920; then eame the popular revolution
Of 1880.
During the siege Of Paris the crypt
was used a. q powder magazine. When
the leadera Of the commune wero
pressed down that way they took 1t for
headquartera
The ecclesiastical authorities remain
ed In charge from the second empire
until 1885 The death Of Victor Hugo
put them to embarrassment The
French government decreed that tho
great poet be put In the Pantheon
crypt, and as he went In the eccle.
0iastical 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. Rsverently,
scientifically and historically the two
sepulchers were opened. They were
found intact.
In 1850 parliament decresd that The
Ssmains Of four more Napolsouic he
roes be transported to tho Pantheon.
They were Lazare Carnot, grandfather
Of the maetyred p~resident: Marceau,
Colonel at sixteen ard general ct
twenty-one;" Baudin. the Republican
Evolutionary representative Of 1916,
and De Ia Tour d'Auvergne, "the pre-
mier grenadier Of France. -Balhmor
American.