A 12 hour layover in Paris allowed plenty of time for a visit. The line was not too long, so we went inside Notre Dame.
The Pantheon was built as a Basilica in honor of Genevieve (1), patron saint of Paris. The timing was not great; the building was completed in 1790, toward the beginning of the French Revolution. The revolutionaries associated the church with the Ancienne Régime, and converted the building to a monument to the philosophes and martyrs defending French liberty. As a result, religuous and secular depictions are directly adjacent. A large statue of Marianne discussing with the philosophes is where the alter would be, with Jesus and Mary above.
In the mid 1800s, Foucault conducted an experiment with a pendulum proving the the earth rotated. The experiment was contemporaneously recreated in the Pantheon for public display, and remains to this day.
A friend from southern France came up to join us. Meeting her at Montparnasse station, we enjoyed a good meal and great conversation. Back to the airport in the aftetnoon for our flight home.
(1) Pronounced John•vee•ev in French.
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