Resistance fighters Missak and Mélinée Manouchian will be inducted into the Panthéon on February 21, 80 years to the day after the poet and Armenian immigrant worker was executed by the Germans outside Paris. Before them, French President Emmanuel Macron had already welcomed three great figures to the Paris necropolis: Simone Veil, Maurice Genevoix and Joséphine Baker. After Robert Badinter's death on February 9, 2024, Macron announced that the former justice minister who abolished the death penalty in France would also be inducted into the Pantheon. But how is this decision made exactly?
What is the Panthéon?
The building, designed by architect Germain Soufflot in 1764, was originally intended as a church dedicated to Sainte Geneviève, saint patron of Paris. In 1791, during the French Revolution, the Assemblée Nationale decided to turn it into a secular temple, called "Panthéon" in reference to the Greek gods. It would honor the memory of the country's new heroes – a republican equivalent of the Saint-Denis Basilica, the necropolis of the kings of France.
Through the political upheavals of the 19th century, the Panthéon once again became a church and temple, before returning to its original function in 1885 for the funeral of writer Victor Hugo. A decree stipulated that "the Panthéon is returned to its original and legal purpose. The remains of great men who have deserved national recognition will be laid there."
Who are the 'great men' honored there?
Logically, the Panthéon was first home to revolutionaries. The Count of Mirabeau was the first to enter, in 1791, but also the first to leave, after being disgraced. Jean-Paul Marat, Louis-Michel le Peletier and Auguste Marie Henri Picot de Dampierre suffered the same fate, unlike the philosophers Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. More than half of the "great men" were admitted to the Panthéon during the Empire that followed the revolution, most of whom were military men and dignitaries who are little known today.
Since the Third Republic, which began in 1870, major political figures (Sadi Carnot, Jean Jaurès, Léon Gambetta); writers (Emile Zola, then André Malraux and Alexandre Dumas under the Fifth Republic); scientists (Marcellin Berthelot, Paul Painlevé, later Pierre and Marie Curie); and, more recently, Resistance fighters, have been honored. The Righteous, who saved Jews during the Occupation, were collectively honored there in 2007.
What about women?
For over 200 years, the "great men" have been exclusively male. Sophie Berthelot, the first woman to enter the Panthéon, did so in 1907, so as not to be separated from her husband, the scientist Marcellin Berthelot.
It was only in 1995 that a woman entered the Panthéon in recognition of her own work. This was scientist Marie Curie, who discovered radioactivity – with her husband Pierre Curie (inducted into the Panthéon in the same year). She is the only scientist to have received two Nobel Prizes in different disciplines, physics and chemistry.
In a 2013 report on modernizing the Panthéon, Philippe Bélaval, the president of the Center for National Monuments, recommended "paying tribute to women of the 20th century who embody a strong message of republican commitment."
Two years later, two female Resistance fighters, Germaine Tillion and Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, were buried there, along with two male Resistance fighters, Jean Zay and Pierre Brossolette. In 2018, Simone Veil, a former Holocaust deportee and prominent politician, entered alongside her husband, Antoine Veil. In 2021, for the first time, the Panthéon entry ceremony honored a single woman, without a spouse or companion in her work: Joséphine Baker. She was also the first artist and the first Black woman to be inducted there.
Who decides on admittance to the Panthéon?
It was the Assemblée Constituante that first decided to bury a famous person in the Panthéon before the Convention took over in 1794. Napoleon I then assumed this right under the Empire, before it was returned to MPs in 1885. Since the Fifth Republic, which began in 1958, it has been the prerogative of the president. "It's part of the redefinition of his powers, even though it's not specified in the Constitution," explained Patrick Garcia, a professor at the Université de Cergy-Pontoise and a researcher at the Institute for the History of Present Time. "Nothing is codified. The president alone chooses and the decision is carried out by the culture ministry."
However, the person themself or their descendants must not object to entry into the Panthéon. For example, General Charles de Gaulle made it clear that he did not wish to be buried there, and the descendants of Albert Camus did not want the writer to be honored by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009. It is also possible to be inducted into the Panthéon without being buried in the crypt: This is the case for poet Aimé Césaire, buried in the French department of Martinique, to whom a fresco and plaque have been dedicated in the Paris monument, and also for Germaine Tillion and Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz. This was also the case for Baker, whose body remained in the Monaco cemetery where she was buried.
While a simple decree is all that's needed to formalize the transfer of the deceased's ashes or body, it takes around two months of preparation to organize the event. With a procession up Rue Soufflot, speeches and a solemn entrance, the carefully designed staging showcases both the president and the person he wishes to honor.
What are the entry criteria?
The Panthéon is reserved for "great men who have merited national recognition." But there is no text detailing the merits required. In theory, it's not even compulsory to be of French nationality, even though this is the case for all those in the crypt today.
However, there are implicit criteria with the expectation of an exemplary character, someone who embodies the ideals of the Republic (the composer Hector Berlioz and the Marquis de La Fayette were therefore rejected for their monarchical leanings) and whose combat echoes the president's values. The Elysée felt that Missak Manouchian "carries a part of our greatness" through his "bravery" and "quiet heroism."