Who is Buried in the Panthéon Paris
Voltaire, Hugo, Curie, Veil — a guide to the eighty figures honoured in the crypt of the nation
The Panthéon was completed in 1790 as the church of Sainte-Geneviève and converted to a secular monument the following year, when the National Constituent Assembly voted to use it as a burial place for distinguished French citizens. Two and a quarter centuries later, the crypt holds the remains or commemorative tombs of roughly eighty figures — philosophers, writers, scientists, generals, resistance fighters, and politicians. This guide identifies the figures most visitors come to see, explains where to find them in the crypt, and notes the significance of the most recent additions.
The Enlightenment writers — Voltaire and Rousseau
The first two figures interred in the Panthéon set the political tone of the entire monument. Voltaire was buried in July 1791, in a national funeral procession that drew an estimated 100,000 mourners through the streets of Paris; his coffin was placed directly opposite the entrance to the crypt, in the bay reserved for him by formal decree. Jean-Jacques Rousseau followed in October 1794, after the Convention voted to honour him alongside his philosophical rival; the two tombs face each other across the central crypt corridor, and the symbolic juxtaposition of the sceptical philosopher and the romantic philosopher has remained the entry point to the Panthéon's intellectual identity ever since.
Both tombs are simple wooden coffins on plinths, each with a sculpted figure standing beside it — Voltaire's allegorical Genius of France by Houdon, Rousseau's tomb decorated with a sculpted hand emerging from the coffin holding a torch, symbolising the Social Contract's revolutionary influence still illuminating posterity. Visitors typically spend longest at Voltaire's tomb because the Houdon statue is genuinely fine sculpture; Rousseau's tomb is the more conceptually striking. The two tombs are at the western end of the central corridor as you enter the crypt; you cannot miss them.
The writers — Hugo, Zola, Dumas, Malraux
Victor Hugo was buried in June 1885, less than 24 hours after his death, in what remains the largest French state funeral of the nineteenth century. An estimated two million people lined the route from the Arc de Triomphe to the Panthéon — at a time when the population of Paris was roughly 2.4 million. Hugo's tomb is in the corridor immediately to the right as you descend into the crypt; he shares the chamber with Émile Zola, transferred there in 1908 in recognition of his role in the Dreyfus Affair, and Alexandre Dumas (père), transferred in 2002 in a ceremony at which the Garde Républicaine carried the coffin from Villers-Cotterêts to Paris.
Across the crypt, in the chamber dedicated to mid-twentieth-century intellectuals, lies André Malraux — novelist, art theorist, and Charles de Gaulle's longest-serving Minister of Culture. His transfer to the Panthéon in 1996, on the twentieth anniversary of his death, was authorised by President Jacques Chirac and remains controversial in some circles because Malraux himself had requested a simple burial. The tomb is unadorned, in keeping with that request, and contrasts visibly with the more elaborate nineteenth-century monuments along the same corridor.
The scientists — the Curies, Berthelot, Monge
Pierre and Marie Curie were transferred to the Panthéon in 1995 — Marie becoming the first woman interred in the building by personal merit (an earlier transfer of Sophie Berthelot in 1907 had been as the wife of the chemist Marcellin Berthelot, alongside him). The Curies share a chamber at the eastern end of the crypt; their joint tomb is one of the most visited in the building because of the contemporary significance of Marie's two Nobel Prizes and the family's contribution to early radiation research. The tomb carries a small lead shield because Marie's remains are still mildly radioactive, although the level is well below any health threshold.
The Panthéon's broader scientific holdings include the mathematician Gaspard Monge (entered 1818, removed in 1815 with the Bourbon Restoration, re-interred under the Third Republic), the chemist Marcellin Berthelot (1907) with his wife Sophie, and the inventor René Cassin (1987), whose work on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights earned him the 1968 Nobel Peace Prize. The scientific cluster sits in the south-east quadrant of the crypt and is the most-renovated section of the building, with information panels in French and English added during the 2013 refurbishment campaign.
The resistance and the human-rights chamber — Moulin, Veil, Schoelcher, Manouchian
Jean Moulin, the central organiser of the French Resistance, was transferred to the Panthéon in 1964 in a ceremony at which Charles de Gaulle's Minister of Culture André Malraux delivered one of the most famous speeches in modern French public oratory. Moulin's tomb is at the centre of the chamber dedicated to twentieth-century political and military figures, surrounded by tombs of resistance fighters including Pierre Brossolette and Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz (interred 2015) and Germaine Tillion (also 2015) — the first time four resistance figures were Panthéonised simultaneously.
Simone Veil, the Holocaust survivor and architect of the 1975 law legalising abortion in France, was interred in 2018 alongside her husband Antoine Veil. Her admission was one of the most widely celebrated Panthéonisations in recent French history and the chamber has been a place of public commemoration ever since. The most recent additions, as of mid-2026, include Joséphine Baker (transferred 2021 — cenotaph only, her remains stayed in Monaco at family request) and Missak and Mélinée Manouchian (transferred 2024) — the Armenian-French resistance fighters whose group was executed by the Nazis in 1944.
How the Panthéonisation process actually works
A figure cannot be entered into the Panthéon by family or institutional request alone. The process requires a formal decree by the President of the French Republic, ordinarily after a campaign of public petitioning, parliamentary debate, and a recommendation from the Centre des monuments nationaux. The decree specifies whether the actual remains will be transferred (typically the case) or whether a cenotaph will be placed (used when the family declines transfer, as with Joséphine Baker). The transfer ceremony itself follows a fixed protocol: the coffin is escorted by the Garde Républicaine, draped in the tricolour, carried up the front steps to the Place du Panthéon, and lowered into the crypt during a formal address by the President.
The chamber assignment is decided in advance by the architectural and curatorial staff of the Panthéon and approved by the Ministry of Culture. Visitors will sometimes notice that some tombs are in private alcoves while others are in main corridors; the placement is not hierarchical but reflects the chronological order in which the figure was interred and the space available at the time. The Panthéon's crypt is not full — there is room for further interments — but the political process required to authorise each transfer is sufficiently demanding that recent decades have averaged roughly one or two Panthéonisations per presidential term.
Frequently asked
Who is buried in the Panthéon in Paris?
Roughly eighty figures are honoured in the crypt, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Alexandre Dumas, Marie and Pierre Curie, André Malraux, Jean Moulin, Simone Veil, and most recently Missak and Mélinée Manouchian (interred 2024).
Who was the first person buried in the Panthéon?
Voltaire, in July 1791, immediately after the building was converted from the church of Sainte-Geneviève into a secular national monument.
Is Marie Curie buried in the Panthéon?
Yes — she and her husband Pierre were transferred to the Panthéon in 1995. Marie was the first woman interred in the building by personal merit; Sophie Berthelot had been entered in 1907 alongside her husband Marcellin Berthelot.
Is Victor Hugo buried in the Panthéon?
Yes. Hugo died in May 1885 and was buried in the Panthéon the following month, in what remains the largest French state funeral of the nineteenth century. He shares his chamber with Émile Zola and Alexandre Dumas.
Who decides who gets buried in the Panthéon?
A formal decree by the President of the French Republic, typically after public petitioning and parliamentary debate. The Centre des monuments nationaux makes a curatorial recommendation; the Ministry of Culture approves the placement.
How many people are buried in the Panthéon?
Approximately eighty individuals, although the exact figure varies depending on whether cenotaphs (such as Joséphine Baker's) and shared tombs (such as the Curies) are counted as one or two.
Who are the most recent additions?
Missak and Mélinée Manouchian, the Armenian-French resistance fighters, were Panthéonised in 2024. Simone Veil and her husband Antoine were entered in 2018. Joséphine Baker's cenotaph was placed in 2021 — her actual remains stayed in Monaco at family request.
Is the crypt accessible to visitors?
Yes, the crypt is part of the standard Panthéon visit and is included in every ticket. Information panels in French and English identify each tomb. The crypt is wheelchair-accessible via a lift from the main nave.
Who is the only person to have been removed from the Panthéon?
Several figures interred during the First Empire (1804–1814) were removed during the Bourbon Restoration in 1815, though most were later re-interred under the Third Republic. The most famous case is the mathematician Gaspard Monge, removed in 1815 and re-entered under the Republic.
Is Napoleon buried in the Panthéon?
No. Napoleon Bonaparte is buried in the Dôme des Invalides on the Left Bank, not in the Panthéon. The Panthéon's twentieth-century military figures are mostly resistance leaders rather than Bonapartist or imperial figures.