The Panthéon is an iconic mausoleum in Paris, France. Originally built as a church, it now serves as a secular monument. It houses the remains of famous French citizens, including Voltaire, Rousseau, and Marie Curie. With its neoclassical architecture, the Panthéon is a symbol of France’s rich history and intellectual heritage. And of interest to me, Louis Braille is also interned there (watch this space for a future post).
The entrance
Tall pillars inside the building
Lovely floors and ceiling
Visiting Louis Braille’s final resting place was very special for me. Of course with a blind wife this is because Braille features in my life. At one stage all our CD’s had Braille labels (of course now we hardly use CD’s at all). It is astonishing to think that this man developed a system to allow millions of people to read books again. He in interred at the Pantheon in Paris, which in its own right is a lovely place to visit.
Its also a little ironic that in many areas Braille isn’t nearly as useful as it used to be, especially with modern phones, ebooks, book readers and apps etc. It’s also lovely to see how these tools make it even easier for a blind person to lead a normal life. Lets hope the progress continues.
The Pantheon is a remarkable building. It was completed by the Emperor Hadrian around 126AD, and has been in continues use ever since.
The dome starts at about 6m thick, and narrow to about 1.5m at the top (that’s 4535 metric tons). The dome is 43m in diameter and staggering to look up at. It is a remarkable piece of engineering, especially considering that it was build almost 2000 years ago.
PS: It’s free to visit.
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