The Panthéon in Paris is the neoclassical monument begun as the Church of Saint Genevieve and transformed into a mausoleum for distinguished French citizens.
King Louis XV commissioned the building as a church dedicated to Paris's patron saint, Saint Genevieve. Designed principally by Jacques-Germain Soufflot, construction began in 1758 and was completed in 1790. Its huge dome, monumental columns, and Greek- and Roman-inspired forms made it a landmark of French neoclassicism.
The French Revolution changed the building's purpose. In 1791, the National Constituent Assembly converted the former church into a secular mausoleum, modelled partly on the ancient Pantheon in Rome. The crypt has since received figures regarded as national exemplars, including Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Marie Curie, Jean Moulin, and Simone Veil.
The building has not had a completely uninterrupted secular history: it was returned to religious use during some nineteenth-century regimes before becoming the national monument recognized today. The Panthéon should not be confused with Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, or Sacré-Cœur, all important Paris churches with different histories and architectural identities.