"Built in a neo-classical style, the Panthéon was originally intended to be a church. Construction began in 1758 after it was commissioned by Louis XV and the design was intended to rival St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Construction took around 40 years and by the time it was finished, the political landscape in France had changed somewhat. The French Revolution began while building work was ongoing and by the time the Panthéon was finished in 1790 Louis XV's successor Louis XVI was in deep trouble. He would be sent to the guillotine in 1793."
"The building itself is obviously a noun - le Panthéon - but you will also hear panthéoniser used as a verb. In this context, it means that a person will be given the honour of being interred inside the building. Most recently, you might have seen headlines about France's former justice minister, Robert Badinter who abolished the death penalty, being panthéonisé. Before that, you may have heard it when US cabaret dancer Josephine Baker was inducted into the Panthéon, or in the weeks before the addition of Armenian WWII resistance fighter Missak Manouchian to the Panthéon."
The Panthéon in Paris was built in a neo-classical style and originally intended as a church commissioned by Louis XV in 1758. The design aimed to rival St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Construction took around forty years, overlapping the French Revolution; the building was completed in 1790 while Louis XVI faced execution in 1793. Revolutionary assemblies voted in 1791 to convert the building into a secular mausoleum for France's most distinguished citizens. The Panthéon has remained the national burial place despite changing governments. The verb panthéoniser denotes induction, and recent inductees include Robert Badinter, Josephine Baker, and Missak Manouchian.
Read at The Local France
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