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| First glimpse of the Pantheon. |
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| The Oculus |
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| Raphael's Sarcophagus |
The Pantheon is a magnificent ancient temple - later converted into the church of
Santa Maria ad Martyres. Dating from 125 AD, this is the most complete ancient building
in Rome and one of the city's most spectacular sights. Until the 20th century, the Pantheon
was the largest concrete
structure in the world. Michelangelo studied its great dome before
starting work on the dome of St Peter's Basilica. The Pantheon was dedicated to pan theos,
"all the gods." When it became a church, it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and all the
martyrs. The Pantheon is the burial place of several important Italians
(including the artist Raphael).
The Pantheon was originally built in 27-25 BC by the magistrate
Marcus Agrippa
(his name appears on the inscription outside), to commemorate the
victory of Actium over Antony and Cleopatra. This original temple burned
down in 80 AD. The Pantheon was completely reconstructed in 125 AD by
Hadrian,
a cosmopolitan emperor who had traveled widely in the East. The second
temple was dedicated to every known god, from which the Pantheon gets
its name. Hadrian himself is credited with the basic plan, an
architectural design that was unique for the time.
The Pantheon was maintained and restored by the emperors Septimus
Severus (193-211) and Caracalla (211-17). During its two centuries as a
functioning temple,
statues of gods filled the niches. Animals were
sacrificed and burned in the center; the smoke escaped through the only means of light, the oculus.
After
Christianity replaced paganism in Rome, the
Pantheon was abandoned for a time. Public pagan worship was prohibited
in 346 and most pagan temples were closed in 356. Fortunately, a decree
of 408 ordered that temples were to be put to new use; thus some have
been preserved and were used as secular buildings.
The Pantheon remained unused until the Byzantine emperor Phocas (602-10) gave it to
Pope Boniface IV (608-15). In
609 AD,
the Pantheon was consecrated as a Christian church. It was the first
pagan temple in Rome to be Christianized, although the practice had been
common in the East since the 4th century. The church was dedicated to
the Virgin Mary and
all the martyrs, thus continuing the tradition of a "catch-all" place of worship.
In 667, the Pantheon was stripped of its golden roof tiles and
looted of anything of value, but the building was partially restored by
Pope Benedict II (684-85). It was subsequently robbed and restored again
several times.
In the 16th century,
Michelangelo came to the
Pantheon to study its dome before he began work on the dome of St.
Peter's (whose dome is 2 feet smaller), and the Pantheon's roof was
stripped of bronze for use in Bernini's
baldacchino in St. Peter's. In 1563, the bronze doors were restored.
The Pantheon is widely praised for its feats of architecture and
concept of space. At 43m (142 ft) wide and 43m (142 ft) high, it is a
perfect sphere resting in a cylinder.
The Pantheon's huge
dome is a perfect hemisphere of
cast concrete, resting on a solid ring wall. Outside, the dome is
covered in almost weightless cantilevered brick. With a span of 43.2 m (142 feet), it was the largest dome in the world until Brunelleschi's dome in Florence of 1420-36.
The portico (porch) is made of 16 monolithic Corinthian
columns topped by a pediment. The
inscription M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIUM·FECIT means: "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, during his third consulate, built this."
The
bronze doors leading into the building (which are original and were once covered in gold) weigh 20 tons each. The
walls of the Pantheon are 7.5m (25 ft.) thick.
The
oculus, the only source of natural light in the
Pantheon, is a round opening in the center of the dome. It is 27 feet
in diameter and open to the sky (the floor is gently sloped to allow for
runoff of rainwater).
The main
altar of the church is opposite the entrance, and the original 7th-century
icon
of the Madonna and Child can be seen above it.
Some
2nd-century decoration from the temple can be seen in the niche just to the right of the apse. The niche just to the right of the entrance carries a
fresco of the
Annunciation by Melozzo da Forli (15th century).
Monumental
tombs are set into the walls of Pantheon, including that of the artist
Raphael
(on the left side as you enter). Vittorio Emanuele II, first king of a
unified Italy, and his successor, Umberto I, are interred here as well.
