The Pantheon
It’s a shor t walk from Pia zza Venezia through cobblestone alleys to this nex t must-see spot in the Eternal Ci t y. If you feel lost, worr y not for tourists fill the ci t y streets day in and out and the movement from one major at traction to another is pret t y much like a pilgrimage. “Ride the tide” so to speak, and you’ll arrive with them at the nex t ancient mar vel. Or, you can ask for directions, whatever makes you feel more secure.
The Pantheon is one of Rome’s must-see spots that can be accessed by foot from Capitoline Hill, Trajan’s Forum and Vit torio Emanuele II Monument cut ting through charming small streets that lead to the square called Piazza della Rotunda, which features a fountain at its center, the Fontana del Pantheon. The area is called Regione IX or the Circus Flaminius referring to how the areas in ancient Rome acquire their nicknames—by the regions’ major landmarks.
This landmark is one of the best-preser ved buildings of Ancient Rome. Buil t during the reign of Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD), along with the Baths of Agrippa, the Basilica of Neptune, the Pantheon was a par t of Marcus Agrippa’s building program af ter the Bat tle of Actium (the decisive confrontation of the Last War of the Roman Republic). The structure suf fered devastations by fire in i ts lifetime but was rebuil t by emperors, Domitian and Hadrian, during their respective reigns. Preser ved well during i ts histor y, the Pantheon has been in continuous use from the time it was buil t to its present use as a Christian Church dedicated to St. Mary and the Mar t yrs when the ruling emperor gave the building to Pope Boniface IV in the 7th centur y. The conversion saved it from abandonment and destruction during the early medieval period when the worst of the spoliation that happened to the majorit y of ancient Rome’s edifices.
Architecturally, the building’s design is impressive— under the pediment of the por tico are massive Corinthian columns (16 columns weighing 60 tons each) made of granite quarried from the eastern mountains of Egypt (imagine the logistics required to transport it to Rome during the ancient times). The porch is at tached to the main circular structure consisting of the vast rotunda under the concrete dome designed with sunken panels called cof fers and at its apex, the oculus, the dome’s central opening to the sk y that ser ves as the interior’s source of natural light and ventilation system.
Here’s something to ponder on—the designer was able to create the dome with the height of the oculus (floor to apex) equal to the diameter of the dome’s interior circle (think: a 142-feet sphere will fi t under this building’s dome). This archi tectural feature is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome t wo thousand years (almost) af ter it was buil t.
Of course, as the users change the interior gets modified. From the original design to honor the divinities, i t was pillaged during the medieval times. It was conver ted to a Catholic Church and the high al tars and apses, niches and chapels were added, and since the Renaissance, the Pantheon were adorned with paintings and has been used as a tomb (prominent Italians are buried here including 2 kings and a queen).
The Pantheon is a popular destination for us as tourists, so i t is for the locals. It’s a place to pray and be at on impor tant Catholic days of obligation, or perhaps get married in. Now, wouldn’t that be a dream wedding.
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