Soufflot Architect Paris building, Pantheon design France, historic French architecture project dates

Jacques Soufflot Architect France

18th Century French Architecture: Architectural Information on Key Building Works – Foucault pendulum

post updated 12 April 2026

Jacques Soufflot – Key Projects

Le Pantheon de Paris / The Pantheon, Paris, France
Location: Paris Ve
Date built: 1789/90
Design: Jacques Germain Soufflot, French Architect

photograph © Adrian Welch

The Pantheon in Paris was designed by French architect Jacques Soufflot as a church under King Louis XV, a monument to Saint Geneviève. Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola and Voltaire are interred in the crypt below Le Pantheon de Paris.

photograph © Adrian Welch

Jean Bernard Léon Foucault conducted his famous experiment with a pendulum – Pendule de Foucault – in this Parisian building, and to this day a 67m long pendulum still hangs here.

More information on 18th Century French architect online soon

Location: Paris, northern France, western Europe.

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French 18th Century Architect Practice Information

Former French architects practice:

Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713–1780) was a French architect who played a key role in the transition from Rococo architecture to early Neoclassicism in 18th-century Europe.

Soufflot is best known for designing the Panthéon in Paris, originally conceived as the Church of Sainte-Geneviève. This building represents one of the most important architectural statements of its time, combining classical grandeur with emerging structural rationalism. Its vast dome, colonnaded portico, and monumental scale reflect Soufflot’s ambition to merge the elegance of ancient Roman architecture with modern engineering precision.

A defining aspect of his work was his belief that architecture should unite lightness and structural clarity with classical beauty. He studied ancient ruins closely and sought to emulate their proportions while also improving upon them through contemporary construction techniques. This approach led to innovative structural systems that reduced the apparent mass of walls and allowed for more open interior spaces than was typical in earlier classical revival buildings.

Beyond the Panthéon, Soufflot worked on various civic and religious projects in France, where his influence helped establish a more restrained and academically grounded architectural language that would later define French Neoclassicism.

His legacy lies in his role as a bridge between stylistic eras, shaping the evolution of European architecture toward greater rationality, clarity, and structural expression.

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Paris church : Sacred Heart Church building

photograph © AW