Transfer of Voltaire's Ashes to the Panthéon
- When
- 1791
- Where
- Church of Saint Genevieve, later the Panthéon; Panthéon, 5th arrondissement
- Episodes
- 2
On 11 July 1791 the National Assembly had Voltaire's remains brought back to Paris and enshrined in the Panthéon, regarding him as a forerunner of the French Revolution. The ceremony followed the Assembly's April 1791 decree transforming the Church of Saint Genevieve into a mausoleum for distinguished French citizens.
Episodes
- The Assembly Transforms Saint Genevieve into a Mausoleum
After Vilette's 1790 proposal and Mirabeau's death, the Assembly decreed the church a temple of the nation.
- Voltaire's Ashes Enshrined in the Panthéon
The National Assembly had Voltaire's remains brought to Paris and enshrined in a lavish ceremony on 11 July 1791.
Background and detail
Background. François-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher, satirist, and historian who died on 30 May 1778. He was famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, and advocated freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
The Panthéon Becomes a Mausoleum. The Church of Saint Genevieve, built between 1758 and 1790 from designs by Jacques-Germain Soufflot at the behest of Louis XV, was nearly complete when the Revolution began in 1789. In 1790 the Marquis de Vilette proposed making it a temple of liberty, and in April 1791 the National Constituent Assembly decreed it a temple of the nation where the tombs of great men would become altars of liberty.
The Ceremony of 11 July 1791. On 11 July 1791 the ashes of Voltaire were placed in the Panthéon in a lavish ceremony. The National Assembly regarded Voltaire as a forerunner of the French Revolution and had his remains brought back to Paris for enshrinement. He was followed by other revolutionaries and by the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
People involved
- Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) · Enlightenment writer whose remains were enshrined
- National Assembly of France · Ordered the transfer of Voltaire's remains to the Panthéon
- Marquis de Vilette · Proposed converting the church into a temple of liberty
- Comte de Mirabeau · Revolutionary figure whose death prompted adoption of the mausoleum idea
Sources
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.