Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-07-25
THE FAMOUS PANTHEON.
Magnificent Tomb Of Many Of the
Great Men Of France.

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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 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 abb
bey Of st. Genevieye, of which now
only the bell tower remains. Louis
XIV. built the Pantheon. It was a
splendid pile, the combined work of
two famous French architects, Souf-
fot and Rondelet. 1t is in the form Of
Greek cross. In front it has a SUI
perb portico Of twenty-five Corinthian
columns sixty-five feet high, reposing
on a magnificent perron Of twelve
mighty steps. In the interior are six
teen windows, with thirty-two Corin-
THAN columns, and high above all,
more than 300 feet in the air, stretches
it's 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 resting place
here among the honored dead Of his
race. ' II.
Napoleon the Great took the Pan
theon and turned it over to the eccle-
siastical authorities, who once more
called the structure the Church of St.
Genevieve, but it still remained in the
eyes Of all Frenchmen the resting
place of the hero dead Of their race.
Lannes was buried in its crypt. Then
came Portals, Cabanis, Wen, 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
Pantheon name, had Gros begin the
great work of interior decoration. Ir
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. Souf1ot was the last, ir
1929; then came the popular revolution
Of 1880. -. Ia. 49,, ..,........ r. :
During the siege Of Paris the crypi
I was used as powder magazine. Wher
the leaders Of the commune were
pressed down that way they took it fol
headquarters. -@..-.. ....,s..
The ecclesiastical authorities remain
ed in charge from the second empire
until 1885. The death of Victor Huge
put them to embarrassment. The
French government decreed that the
great poet be put in the Pantheon
crypt, and as he went In the eccle
siastical authorities went out. 1t ha.
been said that Voltaire and Rousseau
had been taken out years previously
Then years ago, therefore, the republi'
wished to know the truth. Reverently
scientifically and historically the TIVE
sepulchers were opened. They wer,
found intact.
In 1889 parliament decreed that tn,
remains of four more Napoleonic he
roes be transported to the Pantheon
They were Lazare Carnot, grandfathe
of the martyred president; Marceau
colonel at sixteen and general a
twenty-one;' Baudin, the Republican
revolutionary representative Of 1S4s
and De Ia Tour d'Auvergne, "the pre-
mier grenadier Of France"-Baltimor'
| American.