ARCHITECTURE, 195 
36 columns around the drum. In 1788 the cupola proper was begun, and’ 
in 1790 the lantern was erected. On the 25th of August Quatremére de 
Quincy received the order to change the church into a mausoleum for those 
who had merited well of the country, and the church was called Pantheon. 
First the windows were all walled up and only those in the vault retained, 
by which the light was improved, as the church had been too light. The 
belfries were then removed, and all garlands, reliefs, and whatever indicated 
the church, were taken away. By the concussion occasioned by 200 
laborers working without intermission more cracks appeared in the pillars 
and neighboring columns. Mondelet, who had prosecuted the building 
after Soufflot’s death, investigated these, and found that they were partly 
attributable to the poor materials and partly to the reckless workmanship in 
the pillars. It was now intended to strengthen the pillars, as those of the 
crypt which supported them allowed their being made thicker. But the 
relatives of Soufflot protested against this alteration of his plan, and 
Rondelet finally conquered the difficulty by exchanging the poor stones and 
those that were improperly laid for good ones ; and since then the Pantheon, 
which by Rondelet again was altered to a chureh, has required no further 
repairs. 
8. Tae Mapeterne at Paris. One of the most important modern build- 
ings in Paris is St. Magdalen’s church. In this the form of the ancient 
temples is entirely restored, and there is no trace of tower or cupola.,, P72. 
48, jig. 1, is the ground plan, jig. 2 the exterior perspective view, and pi. 
46, jig. 1, the inner perspective view. 
In the 15th century a chapel stood on its site, which was replaced by a 
church in 1660. About 1763 it was deemed necessary for the adornment 
of the city to build a large church in its place, and the architect Coutant 
d’Yvry drew a plan, a Greek cross with a dome, of which only a little was 
executed. In 1777 Couture made a new plan, also a Greek cross with a 
dome, peristyle, &c. But it was rejected, and the revolution intervened. 
At length in 1804 the government determined to erect, not a church, but a 
temple to the fame of the French nation, and the plan of the architect 
Vignon received the preference, after long consultations of various com. 
mittees. The building has a substructure 12 feet high, to whose platform 
ascends on each narrow side an open flight of 32 steps. Forty-eight Corin- 
thian columns form a grand peristyle around the building, eight columns in 
the front and rear and eighteen at the sides. The front portico contains 
four more placed behind the second and third front columns on each side. 
The building therefore is an octastylos peripteros, according to the classi- 
fication of Vitruvius. The intercolumniations are 11 feet 8 inches, the 
diameter of the columns is 6 feet, and their height 58 feet 6 inches. The 
peristyle is 12 feet 3 inches broad, and the main wall is 6 feet thick. The 
breadth of the building is 138 feet ; its length, without the steps, is 321 feet ; 
and it covers an area of 44,298 square feet. In the interior are on each 
side four Corinthian columns 2 feet thick, for which the entablature is 
broken, and upon which rest the girt arches which support cassetted vaults 
with Bey ughis, the only means of light save the door, which is 15 feet 
195 
