Unravel The Mysteries of Our Lives

Day 1 - The Pantheon

Friday, 21 December 2007

After The Fontana di Trevi, we went to the Pantheon, meaning "Temple of all the gods".

Built more than 1800 years ago, the magnificent Pantheon building still stands as a reminder of the great Roman empire. It is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to "all the gods" of Ancient Rome. The generic term pantheon is now applied to a monument in which illustrious dead are buried.

Michelangelo (1475-1564) looked at everything with an artist's critical eye, and he was not easily impressed. But when Michelangelo first saw the Pantheon in the early 1500s, he proclaimed it of "angelic and not human design."

The building's dome, more than 43 meters high is most impressive. It was the largest dome in the world until 1436 when the Florence Cathedral was constructed. At the top of the dome is a large opening, the oculus, which was the only source of light. The front portico has three rows of 8 columns, each one with a diameter of 1.5m. A huge bronze door gives access to the cylindrical building. Its diameter equals the interior height of 43,3m.

Church
Originally a temple for all pagan gods, the temple was converted into a church in 609. The Pantheon contains the tombs of Raphael and of several Italian Kings. Its interior design contrast with the temple's structural design, but the marble floor still features the original Roman design.

Earlier Temples
Before the current Pantheon was built, two other buildings occupied the same site. The first one, a traditional rectilinear, T-shaped structure was build in 27 BC by the emperor Marcus Agrippa, son-in-law of the emperor Augustus. The temple was dedicated to the gods Mars and Venus. It burned in AD 80 but was rebuilt by emperor Domitian. In AD 110 the building was struck by lightning and burned again. In AD 118 emperor Hadrian commissioned for the Pantheon to be rebuilt but with a totally different design. This time the Pantheon building would last much longer.

Hadrian said, "My intentions had been that this sanctuary of All Gods should reproduce the likeness of the terrestrial globe and of the stellar sphere...The cupola...revealed the sky through a great hole at the center, showing alternately dark and blue. This temple, both open and mysteriously enclosed, was conceived as a solar quadrant. The hours would make their round on that caissoned ceiling so carefully polished by Greek artisans; the disk of daylight would rest suspended there like a shield of gold; rain would form its clear pool on the pavement below, prayers would rise like smoke toward that void where we place the gods."

The Dome
The most important problem the Romans faced during the construction of the Pantheon was the massive weight of the large dome. In order to support it without proper reinforcement, the thickness and type of concrete varies between the bottom and the top of the dome. At the base very thick (6m, 20ft) walls were constructed. At the top of the dome, a lighter type of concrete was used and near the oculus it is only 7.5 ft or 2.3 m thick. The use of coffers in the ceiling and the opening at the top also helped reduce the weight of the dome.

The Columns
The huge, 60 tons weighing columns used for the portico were quarried in Egypt. They were transported all the way to Rome using barges and vessels. The columns support a pediment with an inscription attributing the Pantheon to Marcus Agrippa even though it was built by Hadrian.

Piazza della Rotonda
The Pantheon borders the Piazza della Rotonda, a rectangular square with a central fountain, Fontana del Pantheon. It is situated in the historic center of Rome, not far from the Piazza Navone.

Floorplan of the Pantheon from wikipedia