The Pantheon in Paris is a monument of grand proportions, both historically and architecturally. Built between 1758 and 1790 at the behest of King Louis XV of France and designed by the renowned architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot, the Panthéon stands atop the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the centre of the 5th arrondissement. Its purpose was originally slated to be a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, but over the course of two centuries has served as a temple for memorializing distinguished French citizens and boasting works of neoclassical art and architecture. Léon Foucault famously demonstrated diurnal motion at the Panthéon in 1851 with the aid of an immense pendulum suspended from the dome's ceiling, a copy of which hangs today. Whether it be the structure's gleaming white façade, its three successive domes or the famous iron rods used to provide greater strength and stability to the stone structure, the Panthéon stands as a powerful symbol in Paris brimming with impressive splendor.