The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-16
y estmlnster Abbey of France
to Receive the Remains of lola

l519; then came the popular revolution
of 1880.
One of the revolutionists, Eric Der
nard. painted on a plank the old in
scription Of the first French reyolu
ton: ITO great men, the grateful
faTherland, and hoisted it up TO the
plinth With this and the DEGREES that
followed. 1t became again the Pan
theon IN name as well as fact; and
the ecclesiastical authorities again
went out. In 1881 the great cross OF
its dome was replaced by heroic fig
ure Of "Renown BY CorOt It was
taken down in 1886; Parisians love
change. And Louis-Philippe finished
up the splendid building very com
pletely. under three great architects.
Bastard. Destouches and Rondelet fils.
The Parisians love change They
changed TO Napoleon Ill With him
the Pantheon once more became the
Church Ste. Geneyieve. It stayed so
through his epoch.
During the siege of Paris the crypt
was used as q powder magazine. When
the leaders Of the commune were press
ed down that way they took it for
headquarters. None Of all which
troubled the great citizens who slept
there
They were doubtless pleased, how
ever, when the new republics director
of beaux-arts, Chennecieres, called TO
him the sublimest painters Of all Paris
and said:
What was once the Pantheon is now
the Pantheon again. Get busy and light
up all its interior walls with splendid
frescoes worthy OF the memory of the
great men who sleep in its ervpt-and
of the building and the spot itself! -
These tremendous freseoes are what
tourists first delight in. Galland. Bon
nat, Puyis de Chavannes. Meissonier.
Gerome, Blanc, Gustave Moreau, Millet,
CabanaI, BaudTy and Chenayard were
the artists called in. 4 few did no more
than consult with the others, such as
Meissonier and Gustave Moreau Others
came in later and did splendid frescoes,
such as Humbert and j. P Laurens
The rest have immortal frescoes, many
of the subjects having been originally
stipulated by the great Beaux Arts d.
rector to thus glorify the memory OF
most diverse Etgreat men, like .The |
Preaching of St. Denis'' (aetualIy. ex-
ecuted as his martyrdom), ''Attila |
Marching on Paris, - este. Genevieve |
Brings Food TO Famine-struck Paris. y |
: The Growing of Charlemagne. - - St. !!
Louis Rendering Justice Of st. Louis |
there is actually a tryptic, whose CEN
ter is a great scene crowding In his va
rious judicial and administrative re-
forms, while Joan of Are is given spIen-
did space in designs known the world
over.
The ecclesiastical authorities who had |
remained in charge since the second
empire liked all this. The great citizens
thus honored were of the old times. In
1883, however, while the work was GO
ing on, the death of Victor Hugo put
them to embarrassment The French
government decreed that the great poet
be put in the Pantheon crypt, and as
he went in the ecclesiastical authori-
ties went out.
1t was the greatest funeral Paris had
ever seen in all her history. For two
days and nights Victor Hugo s body
lay in state beneath the Arc de Tri-
omphe. The whole Paris population
passed before it. Then down the
Champs Elysees the grandiose process
sion passed, across the river down the
Boulevard St. German to the Latin
quarter and the Pantheon. which is its
.enter. And if the ecclesiastical au-
-horities went ont as he went in. it was
on their free choice. They had toIer-
ated Voltaire in the crypt century and
more.
II