- Touristy
- Shopping
- Museums & Galleries
- Historic sights
- Open air markets
- Cafes & Restaurants
- Cinemas & Theaters
- Designer boutiques
- Nightlife
About the area
The 5th Arrondissement, also known as the Latin Quarter, is a bustling spot filled with locals, tourists, and students, situated on the city's Left Bank. The area is the educational center of Paris and has been since the Middle Ages when the famous Sorbonne university was built. Over the years the neighborhood has attracted intellectuals such as Ernest Hemingway (where in Paris hasn't?) and James Joyce, and though much of its quaint, literary charm has been corrupted by tourist trap restaurants and tacky souvenir shops, it is still a beautiful part of the city with many historically significant buildings.
The historic sights here date to various time periods: There is an ancient Roman theater, the Pantheon (an 18th-century mausoleum where historic figures such as Voltaire and Rousseau are buried), the Sorbonne, and the Museum of Natural History nestled in the Botanical Gardens. Bohemian movie theaters, wine shops, produce markets, and cafes also line the streets. Many cafes in the 5th Arrondissement, particularly those at Place St-Michel, can be subpar and inauthentic, but those who venture down side streets can often find delicious, and inexpensive, cafes and bistros.
On the Map
The Pantheon
The Panthéon (from Greek "Πάνθεον" meaning "Every god") is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve and to house the reliquary châsse containing her relics but, after many changes, now functions as a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens.
It is an early example of neoclassicism, with a façade modeled on the Pantheon in Rome, surmounted by a dome that owes some of its character to Bramante's "Tempietto". Located in the 5th arrondissement on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, the Panthéon looks out over all of Paris.
Designer Jacques-Germain Soufflot had the intention of combining the lightness and brightness of the gothic cathedral with classical principles, but its role as a mausoleum required the great Gothic windows to be blocked.
