Inside the crypt
A walkthrough of the Panthéon's crypt
Reached by stairs from the nave, the crypt's vaulted chambers hold more than eighty names, from Voltaire to the Blochs.
See current listings on Viator ↗Getting down there
Stairs from the nave lead down into the crypt — cooler, dimmer, and laid out as a series of connected chambers beneath the whole building rather than one open room. The monument's own access notes put the descent at around 40 steps, with no wheelchair access.
How the chambers are arranged
Voltaire, Rousseau and Soufflot, the building's architect, lie in the entrance chamber. Napoleon's senators and officers fill several of the early galleries; the writers Hugo, Zola and Dumas share one chamber; and many of the latest arrivals, from Joséphine Baker to the Manouchians and the Blochs, are grouped together in another.
The tombs most people stop at
Voltaire and Rousseau's facing tombs draw the longest pause for most visitors, followed by the writers' chamber, Marie and Pierre Curie, and Jean Moulin. The crypt isn't large, so none of them takes long to find.
How long to spend down there
Twenty to thirty minutes covers the names most visitors come to see. Reading every plaque in every chamber is closer to an hour, and worth it only if the history itself is the draw rather than a stop on a longer day.