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kylebarber
kylebarber
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4 out of 5
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Editor Pick

An Amazing Feat of Architecture!

  • March 24, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by morph! from Belfast, United Kingdom
An Amazing Feat of Architecture!

When you think how old the Pantheon is, built in an era without cranes or electricity, it really makes you appreciate the building even more! Built with a diameter equal to its height and a dome for a ceiling - with a hole in the top for light to radiate in, it is a work of art!
I didn't realise the Pantheon is actually a Catholic Church, with Masses throughout the week and an area set aside for quiet prayer. All around the circular church are smaller chapels and shrines.
Get the guidebook out, because there's plenty to pick up here that's not obvious initially! From statues to the tomb of Raphael, there's lots to look at. I particularly liked the human sized crib. I'm not sure whether it's there all year round, but it was certainly still there in the first week of February, with the crib figures all life size just as you go inside.
We wanted to make sure we'd picked everything up so we paid a euro and used the audio guide at the right of the building as you come up to the altar. It was great!
One word of warning when it's wet: don't stand in the middle! Remember that the Pantheon has a hole in the roof!

From journal Rome - THE Cultural Capital

Editor Pick

The Most Enchanting Building in Roma

  • January 19, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Praskipark from Warsaw, Poland
Il Pantheon
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The word pantheon is made up of two Greek words pan which means everything and teon which means divine. Reading up about the history of this wonderful building there seems to be several different opinions of when it was actually built. It seems that the first building was a small temple built between 27 and 25 BC. It was built by the son in law of the Emperor Augustus, Marcus Agrippa, and was dedicated to all Roman Gods. This building was burnt in a fire in AD 80 and rebuilt. Again it was struck by lightning and destroyed in AD 110 Third time lucky, in AD 118 a new building was constructed under Emperor Hadrian's instructions and this time the design was changed which has proved to be lasting as the construction is one of the best preserved buildings in Rome.

The Pantheon is situated in the Piazza della Rotunda, a busy square with a central fountain, not far from the Piazza Navone. It is said that the place on which it was built was a legendary place in the history of Rome. It is where Romulus, the founder of Rome died and was seized by an eagle and taken off into the heavens with the Gods.

Michelangelo was impressed with the beauty of the building and according to history books was known to have said that it was the work of angels not men.

I think I would probably agree with the great artist. It is certainly impressive from the outside. The columns that are used for the portico are enormous and apparantley weighed 60 tons.They were brought from Egypt to Rome on barges . Absolutely amazing.

I was impressed to find that Raphael's tomb is inside the building as he has been an artist that I have admired for a long time. Also, Victor Hugo, several Kings and Queens of Italy are buried there with other famous Italians.

The dome is absolutely spectacular and my brain ached thinking about the weight of the dome and what they had used to support it. Coffers(sunken panels) were used in the ceiling and the fact that it is open at the top helps to ease the weight of the dome. In one of the guide books it states that the concrete walls at the base were 6 metres thick. That's a lot of concrete!

This is a truly remarkable building and I must say this about all of Rome's beauties but the Pantheon is really worth seeing. You will be enchanted with it.

From journal Six Days in Eternity

Editor Pick

The Pantheon

  • August 10, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by mlmeredith from St. Louis, Missouri
The Pantheon

Of all the sights in Rome, I think the one that most impressed me was the Pantheon. This has to be one of the great spiritual buildings I’ve ever encountered. It was built as a Roman temple, and later became a Catholic Church (Chiesa di Santa Maria ad Martyres). There are a lot of different theories regarding why it was did not suffer the fate of so many pagan temples (demolished for their marble or just collapsed from disuse). But no one can truly explain how it escaped the looting and neglect. We can be sure however that its evolution into a church guaranteed its preservation for perhaps all time.

It’s believed that it was originally built by Agrippa at about 27 BC, then later rebuilt after 118 AD by Hadrian. The name Pantheon comes from the fact that it was to be a temple honoring the pantheon of the gods, a multi-use temple if you will.

You enter through huge bronze doors into a great circular room. Almost immediately, your eyes are drawn up to the inside of the concrete dome and the open oculus at the top that provides natural light to the building. Yes, the dome is concrete. Didn’t know that they could use concrete 2000 years ago, right? Now consider this, experts today believe that were they to try to duplicate the size and breadth of the dome using today’s concrete construction, it would likely collapse under its own weight! Yet the Pantheon endures.

At night the plaza in front of the building is a popular site for vendors, musicians and people-watchers.

Don’t miss it! The Pantheon is open from 8:30am to 7:30pm Monday to Saturday, from 9am to 6pm on Sunday, and 9am to 1pm on holidays that fall on weekdays except for Christmas Day, New Year's Day and May 1, when it is closed.

There is no charge for admission.

If you’re curious, there is even a live web cam perched on a building looking down on the portico and the plaza in front: http://81.208.34.15/dynamicindex/camera.html

From journal First Time to Italy

Editor Pick

Pantheon

  • August 1, 2007
  • Rated 3 of 5 by rufusni from Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Pantheon

This is one of the few buildings that have survived fairly intact from ancient Rome dating from 125 A.D., although was an earlier pantheon here from 27 B.C. Its name implies that this was a temple to many gods, but it isn't clear how it was used for worship. However, in 609 A.D. it was consecrated as a Christian church and dedicated to Santa Maria ad Martyres. This conversion into a church is the reason that the building has been maintained, and it is still used now with mass said on Sundays at the altar. Much of the building's lavish decoration has been removed over the years including stripping the bronze roof. However, it is the architecture of this building that is breathtaking.

You wander from narrow streets into a piazza that is dominated by the Pantheon. The square has various cafés around the edge but it is quite noisy and busy with tourists and not really the most pleasant setting, there are more pleasant piazzas close by. The grandeur of the Pantheon is clear but it is unfortunately crowded by the surrounding buildings so that it cannot be fully appreciated.

The interior is quite amazing because of the architectural design rather than the decor. The dome is quite spectacular and was the largest dome in the world for hundreds of years. The dome was created by pouring many rings of concrete mixed with volcanic pumice stone. The dome has a equal diameter and height at 142 feet and has an open oculus of 8 metres diameter. The oculus is the only source of natural light in the building and is quite amazing as a distinct and visible beam of light radiates down. Beneath the floor is sloped into drains so if rain falls through the oculus it runs off. The interior of the dome has five rows of 28 square coffers that increase in size from the oculus. These indented squares make the dome look stunning with the pattern of light and shadow created by them.

Around the circular interior of the building, which is decorated with coloured marble, are various side chapels and niches, including the tomb of the artist Raphael, and several Italian kings also had tombs created here. However, these are probably of less interest that the incredible structure which you can tell simply by the number of people staring up. The building with its dome and portico has been an inspiration for many buildings, and Michaelango apparently studied the dome here as well.

This is an incredible example of Roman architecture that I found well worth visiting. It is open daily from 9am to 6.30pm except on Sunday when it closes at 1pm. Entrance is free, and there is no queuing normally as the building is so huge inside there is room for a large crowd.

From journal Glimpsing Rome

Pantheon

Pantheon

The Roman Pantheon is one of Rome’s most preserved buildings. It was originally a temple and later used as a church. The Pantheon is within walking distance to Trevi Fountain and along with the Spanish Steps and Triton Fountani, these places can serve as a good half-day’s worth of activities. Inside the Pantheon is a great eyehole (“occulus”) and several tombs and monuments worthy of your attention. The most notable of these tombs is that of the great Renaissance painter – Raphael. If I can recall reading Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”, Raphael is not actually buried here – he’s buried in another church elsewhere. I am not sure if that is actually true but it’s a cool place to visit if you’re a fan of the Da Vinci Code book. Make sure you stop by one of the awesome gelato places near the Pantheon – they’re probably the best you can get in Rome (check out my reviews on a few of these)! Admission to the Pantheon is free and opening hours are as the follow: M-Sa (9am to 7:30pm), Su (9am to 5:30pm).

From journal When in Rome...

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