The Pantheon is an architectural and historical monument of antiquity, one of the most significant sights of Rome. It was conceived as a temple of all ancient Roman gods, but after the fall of the Roman Empire it was rededicated into the Catholic Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs.
The Pantheon is the most mysterious of all the structures of Ancient Rome. It is not known exactly when, how and by whom it was built. It is believed that the construction of the temple was completed in 27 BC under the patronage of the Roman statesman Marco Vipsanio Agrippa. After several fires, the Pantheon was badly damaged and in 124 AD, under the Emperor Hadrian, it was rebuilt and acquired its modern appearance.
Although the new temple was very different from the original building, Emperor Hadrian wanted to pay tribute to Agrippa and left the original inscription on the facade of the building with bronze letters:
The Latin inscription "M.AGRIPPA.L.F.COS.TERTIVM.FECIT" literally translates as "Marco Agrippa, son of Lucius, built during his third consulate."
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Pantheon was abandoned for several centuries, and only in 608 the Byzantine emperor Phoca handed it over to Pope Boniface IV, who dedicated the ancient building to St. Mary and all the Martyrs. During the unification of Italy (1871-1894), the Pantheon served as a fortress for kings.
There is another theory according to which the Pantheon was built in the Middle Ages. Supporters of this version dispute the almost 2000 age of the temple, since the ancient structure has been perfectly preserved to this day, and in fact it was built of bricks and concrete, the operational life of which is much shorter.
The Pantheon is shrouded in amazing stories and legends. One belief says that the building was built on the spot from which the legendary Romulus, the founder of Rome, ascended to heaven. Another belief says that the oculus, the hole in the dome, was created by the devil fleeing the temple of God. Another legend says that Cybele, an ancient Greek divinity revered as the Great Mother of the gods, appeared in Agrippa's dream to ask for the construction of a temple.
The Roman Pantheon is a revolutionary building in ancient Roman architecture. Its peculiarity lies in its ideal proportions: the inner diameter of the dome corresponds to the height of the temple, and as a result, the structure has a spherical shape. The Syrian architect and engineer Apollodorus from Damascus is considered the creator of the Pantheon.
The ancient temple consists of a large rotunda, covered with a hemispherical dome, and 16 Corinthian columns supporting the pediment. As before, most of the building is faced with marble, but over the long history of the Pantheon, changes have been made on the outside and in some places you can see brickwork.
As the best-preserved example of Roman monumental architecture, the Pantheon has had a tremendous impact on Western architecture. Many famous buildings have been built that reflect the structure of the Pantheon with a portico and a dome: the Church of San Carlo al Corso in Milan, the Basilica of San Francesco di Paola in Naples, the Church of Gran Madre di Dio in Turin, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, State Library of Victoria in Melbourne and others.
Today, the hemispherical dome of the Roman Pantheon with a diameter of 43 meters is the world's largest dome built of concrete without reinforcement. For its construction, the architects used a very light mortar, but still the dome turned out to be very heavy. To hold such a huge hemisphere, it was necessary to increase the thickness of the walls to 6 meters.
In the center of the dome there is an oculus - a round hole with a diameter of 9 meters, the so-called eye of the Pantheon. Air and light enter the temple only through this hole, since there are no windows in the building. When it rains, water gets into the oculus, so there are special drainage channels in the floor that collect water.
The interior decoration of the Pantheon is no less magnificent than the outside, although many statues and gilded bronze decorations have disappeared over the centuries. From the 15th century, the temple began to be enriched with frescoes. The most famous of these is the Annunciation by Melozzo da Forlì.
The temple has seven niches, placed in paired columns, which originally served to worship the deities associated with the cult of the planets: the Sun, Moon, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars. When the Pantheon was consecrated into a Christian basilica, these niches were used to install altars and tombs of famous people.
Since the Renaissance, the Pantheon, like all churches, has become the burial place of prominent people. Here are buried priests, famous cultural figures, and even kings: Umberto I and Emmanuel II. A special place is occupied by the tomb of the painter Raphael Santi.
Address: Piazza della Rotonda, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
The Pantheon is located in the city center, next to the entire tourist infrastructure of the Italian capital: various cafes, restaurants, shops, excursion bureaus, attractions, etc.
On the square in front of the Pantheon, there is another attraction - the Egyptian obelisk, which was made in ancient Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II at the end of the 13th century BC. By order of Pope Clement XI, the obelisk was installed in the already existing fountain in front of the Pantheon in 1711.
How to get there
Since the nearest metro station, Cavour, is 2 km from the Pantheon, the bus is more convenient.
By bus get to one of the following stops:
Opening hours
Entrance to the Pantheon free.
Among other free attractions in Rome, it is also worth highlighting the Vittoriano memorial complex in Piazza Venezia, built in honor of Victor Emmanuel II - the first king of a unified Italy. On its territory there are museums and an observation deck.
The Roman Pantheon is one of the most impressive buildings in Rome. In addition, this is almost the only structure of Ancient Rome that has survived to this day almost unchanged.
The first temple on this site in Rome was built in 27 BC. NS. Mark Vipsanius Agrippa, commander and associate of the Emperor Augustus. After the fire, the Pantheon was completely rebuilt in 118 - 128 years. under the emperor Hadrian. It was he who ordered to make the old inscription on the facade of the new Pantheon: "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built."
The entrance to the Roman Pantheon is decorated with a solemn portico with columns in the Greek style, which stand in two rows. All columns are made of red Egyptian granite and Greek marble and are monolithic.
The dome rests on a rotunda, the walls of which consist of eight niches, interconnected by a multi-tiered brick arcade. The interior decoration is typical of ancient Rome.
The dome of the Roman Pantheon is made of concrete filled with rubble and pumice; the upper part of the dome is made of pumice concrete. This dome is still the largest concrete structure.
The walls of the Pantheon are decorated with marble. Niches were made in them, in which there were statues of ancient gods.
The floor is paved with marble slabs. In the center there are drains for water, which, when it rains, enters the temple through a light hole in the dome.
There are no windows in the Roman Pantheon. But the building has good natural ventilation. It does not feel damp even in rainy winter time. Besides, the acoustics are excellent here. There can be more than two thousand people in the Pantheon.
This miracle was preserved due to the fact that at the beginning of the 6th century, Pope Boniface IV decided that the Pantheon, which stood on the former Champ de Mars in Rome, among the ruins, would be suitable for the construction of a church in it. In 609, the church of the Holy Virgin Mary and all the martyrs was illuminated there.
Almost all the Roman priests attended the solemn consecration of the church. However, in the Middle Ages, people were in constant fear, fueled by the Christian Church. Therefore, at the celebration, people saw frightened demons running away through a round hole in the dome.
In 1520 he was buried in the Pantheon.
Also buried in the Roman Pantheon are Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I, the first and second kings of the United Italy.
Now in front of the Pantheon there is an Egyptian obelisk, which in antiquity was located in the temple of Isis on the Champ de Mars.
The Pantheon is the most mysterious of all the structures of Ancient Rome. Nobody knows for certain when and mainly how it was built. Any modern builder will tell you that this cannot be, because it can never be. And the Pantheon stands. Its construction is believed to have been completed by 120 AD.
Such conclusions about the age of the Pantheon are made by official science on the basis of reading the surviving chronicles. But in historical sources there is no exact indication of the date in the summer calculation accepted today. Those. some logical chains of reasoning were built (correct or not correct) and on their basis the completion of the construction of the Temple of All Gods was attributed to 120 AD and the reign of Emperor Hadrian.
The Pantheon was once built as the Temple of All Gods, but has long since become the Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs. The entrance to the operating churches is free, enjoy.
Audio guides available in Russian Wikipedia (I read the article in English, much less is written in Russian) strangely says almost nothing about the restructuring and repairs of the Pantheon, and after all, any building needs repair, nothing lasts forever. And the Pantheon comes out almost forever? Remember the landowners' estates of Russia, built in a similar way to the Pantheon from bricks and mortar. What condition are they in? But they have only been abandoned for some miserable 100 years.
The solid age of the Pantheon conflicts with the brick walls and concrete dome of the building. Brick and concrete have a limited shelf life, modern building science claims that the life of concrete is no more than 600 years. Think of the Venetian Campanile, as it collapsed in 1902 in a classic way - falling apart into separate bricks. Those. the bonds between the bricks have weakened to such an extent that the entire structure literally in a few moments turned into a heap of construction waste.
And the Pantheon is almost 1000 years older than the Campanile, according to the official historical version.
The Pantheon is in a flooded area, any builder will say that this is very harmful to the building The oldest image of the Pantheon I found from the 17th century. The painting was painted by the Dutch Golden Age painter Willem van Nieulandt II, who was born and resided in Antwerp. Even then, it looked abandoned, but in order to grow bushes, the building does not need millennia, 10-15 years of lack of maintenance will be enough.
View of the Pantheon, Willem van Nieulandt II (years 1584-1635) The greatest illustration of the changes in the construction of the Pantheon is the following painting by Piranesi. In the 16th century, the architect Bernini, at the direction of the next Pope, built two strange bell towers on top, popularly nicknamed "Bernini's donkey ears", in order to give the ancient temple a greater resemblance to a church. Two centuries later, they were removed.
Notice how the surroundings have changed over the 150 years since the previous painting was painted. The houses came almost close to the temple. And they remain in the same proximity to this day.
View of Rome, Piranesi, 1761, at the San Francisco Museum Traces of the Pantheon's rebuilding are, however, striking, but for some reason nothing has been reported about them. Pay attention above the portico the traces of the previous portico are clearly visible. Read the history of any ancient structure other than Roman ones, and you will see a long series of rebuildings and renovations. And the history of the ancient Pantheon is divided into three segments:
The total is a failure of 900 years. There is clearly something wrong here. 900 years for a brick building is almost an eternity. Nowhere is it reported that the Pantheon has undergone a major overhaul. It is believed that this is the best-preserved building of Ancient Rome, even the marble decoration of the interior is mostly original.
These intricate column caps are also original.
Above the main altar The main mystery of the Temple of All Gods is its dome. A concrete, unreinforced dome, which is about 2000 years old ??? Researchers report that the lower tiers of the dome are made of harder concrete than the upper ones. And pumice was mixed into the concrete of the upper tiers to facilitate the construction. Until now, the dome of the Pantheon remains the largest unreinforced dome in the world.
The thickness of the dome around the oculus is 1.2 meters, and when viewed from below, you can't tell.
Coffered dome and oculus It is curious that when we were told about the unique dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, built by Brunelleschi in 1436, i.e. 1316 years later than the Pantheon. They talked about the problems the architect faced. They were afraid that a huge and very heavy dome would crush the walls of the cathedral.
Against the background of the dome of the Pantheon, Brunelleschi's genius fades, has he never seen the Temple of All the Gods in Rome and could not try to do something like that? But it is obvious that he did not see, although his biography says that he went to study the ancient ruins of Rome, but it is not said specifically that he studied the dome of the Pantheon. The dome of Santa Maria del Fiore is double to distribute the load, i.e. by a constructive solution, it is completely different.
To begin with, I will note that the Romans themselves recognize their skill in composing and promoting legends in life. After hearing a lot of beautiful stories, tourists will rush to Rome, one of the main sources of income for Italians. Therefore, the Roman legends must be treated accordingly. But nevertheless, the stories below take place.
Roman legends report that the Pantheon was built on the site from which Romulus himself, the founder of Rome, ascended to heaven. And various Temples of all the gods have stood on this site since the founding of Rome. And that is not all.
They also say that to make the dome, the whole building was covered with earth mixed with coins. It was a kind of formwork and scaffolding in one bottle. And after the completion of construction, the people were allowed to take the land from the premises together with coins. It is said that the walls were freed from the ground within 24 hours.
These legends indicate that it is not known how the formwork for pouring the dome was made.
The interior of the Pantheon has the shape of a cylinder, the height of which is equal to the radius of the dome's sphere, and is 43.3 meters. There are no windows inside at all, except for the mysterious hole in the center of the dome, also known as Oculus!
Drawing to illustrate the harmony of shapes The oculus is a very peculiar architectural element; nowhere else have I seen such a window in the ceiling. Naturally, light and rain enter the room through it. The floor is made in such a way that rainwater is drained into a special hole. Obviously, during the initial construction, a ray of light penetrating inside through the circumference was assigned a significant role.
In the Niches, located in the circle of the temple, there were 7 statues of Roman gods, however, correlated with the 7 planets of antiquity (the Sun, Moon, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars.). A ray of light during the day bypassed only half of the circle and illuminated the statues of the day gods in turn. We can say that the Pantheon was an ancient observatory and a temple at the same time.
The light effect can be seen on April 21, when the midday sun falls flat on the metal grate above the doorway. The Romans celebrated April 21, the day of the founding of the city. On this day, the emperor himself stood at the entrance to the Pantheon, surrounded by light coming from within. This light put the emperor on the same level with the gods, the inhabitants of the Pantheon.
Burials in the Pantheon also began to be made already in the 16th century, except for a strange episode of the times of the conversion of the temple from pagan to Christian. They say Pope Boniface IV ordered the transport of 28 carts of the bones of saints from the Roman catacombs to the Pantheon in 609.
Currently, the Pantheon contains the tombs of Raphael Santi (1483-1520), architect Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536), painter Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), composer Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), the king who united Italy - Victor Emmanuel II (years of life 1820-1861), King Umberto I (years of life 1844-1900). They began to bury the great people of Italy in the Pantheon only starting from the 16th century, and in the 18th century the French built their Pantheon in Paris and also began to bury the great people of France in it.
Burial of Raphael Santi Many imitations of the Roman Pantheon are known in architecture, but all of them were built not earlier than the 16th century.
In the Temple of All Gods, the original marble floor, consisting of a number of geometric patterns, has been preserved since ancient Roman times. However, we saw a large circle on the floor of red porphyry even in St. Peter's Basilica, on which Charlemagne knelt when on Christmas Day 800 he was crowned imperial by Pope Leo III. Then another 21 emperors knelt, receiving the crown of the Holy Roman Empire from the hands of the pope.
The marble floors of the Pantheon have not rubbed a bit for 2000 years, I think many of you have seen badly worn marble floors and stairs in buildings of much younger age in your life. Or are the floors not original, or marble of exceptional hardness in Rome?
Porphyry circle in the floor of the Pantheon There is a similar circle of red porphyry in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin (this is where the Mouth of Truth is located). The basilica is believed to have been built in the 6th century. Even the circle in the basilica looks older than the circle in the ancient Pantheon.
Floors in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin While looking for something about these porphyry circles in the floor, I came across information that there is a similar circle in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. It turns out that Christian churches have inherited the tradition of making porphyry circles in their floors from pagan temples? After all, the Pantheon was originally built like a pagan temple.
Floor in St. Peter's Basilica In St. Peter's Basilica, emperors were crowned on a circle, in Hagia Sophia there was an imperial throne on this place, but what then did this circle mean in the modest Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin? Does anyone know the answer to this question?
Only in the 17th century, by order of Pope Urban VIII, some bronze figures, standing there since the time of the Roman emperors, were removed from the pediment of the Pantheon. It is believed to have been an imperial eagle with a ribbon. Urban VIII melted the antique bronzes into cannons for the Castel Sant'Angelo.
The columns support a triangular pediment with the inscription “M. AGRIPPA L F COS TERTIUM FECIT ", which in translation sounds like:" Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, elected consul for the third time, erected this. " It is the only fragment left of the original temple built by Agrippa, and it is believed that Adrian left it in memory of his predecessor when he rebuilt the Pantheon after a fire.
By the way, the bronze letters of the inscription were cast anew already in the 19th century, following the traces left on the pediment. The restoration of a drawing or inscriptions from the traces (holes in the wall) left after their loss looks rather doubtful. There are a lot of holes on the pediment.
The 16 massive Corinthian columns supporting the portico each weigh 60 tons. They are 11.8 m high, 1.5 m in diameter and came to Rome from Egypt. These columns dragged over 100 km from the quarry to the Nile River on wooden sleds. They were bargered down the Nile when the water level was high during the spring floods, and then were loaded onto other ships to cross the Mediterranean towards the Roman port of Ostia. There they were once again reloaded back to barges and sent up the Tiber River.
Base of the Pantheon Column There is such a blogger in St. Petersburg, ZigZag. He develops the theory that our St. Isaac's Cathedral was built by "aliens", and not, on the basis of the facts that Isaac's columns are made of monolithic granite and weigh 114 tons each. They say that it was impossible to cut down and transport and process these hulks in the 19th century due to the lack of modern technology. What, then, can be said about the granite columns of the Pantheon? After all, it is assumed that they were made and installed much earlier.
The columns of the Pantheon, in comparison with the columns of Isaac, are much more roughly processed and damaged in places, the damage was noted in the Piranesi engraving from 1761. St. Isaac's columns are almost perfectly polished, they have only chips made during the Second World War, there are also patches made during construction.
In 609, the Pantheon became the first pagan temple to be converted into a church, and therefore it was saved from destruction in the Middle Ages. Here I would like to ask the question: “The first of which set of temples? Who in those distant times kept such statistics and how did it survive to this day? " Today it is the Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs.
There is a beautiful fountain in the square in front of the Pantheon. It was designed by the renowned architect Giacomo della Porta in 1575 and is made of marble by Leonardo Sormani. In 1711, Pope Clement XI ordered the architect Filippo Barignoni to develop a new design for the fountain, which would include another pool made of stone, and the obelisk of Ramses II, located in the center on a plinth with four dolphins at the base.
The base of the fountain in the Rotunda square I would like to note the love of the Popes for the Egyptian granite obelisks. In total, as many as 13 such obelisks have been installed in Rome, many of them have hieroglyphs on them. Almost all Roman obelisks are told similar stories. First, in the days of Ancient Rome, the obelisk was delivered by sea from Egypt, then it decorated the capital of the Empire for some time, then it was found during excavations carried out in the 17th-18th centuries and installed on new pedestals. All obelisks were erected by order of the popes.
Rotunda Square in Rome with Egyptian Obelisk Those. the fathers of the Roman Catholic Church do not see anything strange in the installation of pagan obelisks in their capital. For example, I will note that in St. Petersburg in the forest park "Sosnovka" wooden idols were destroyed literally in the spring of 2015 for religious reasons, although I and most of the townspeople never saw any pagan connotation in the wooden sculptures installed in the forest park. Here we are so different.
Or maybe the new chronologists of A.T. Fomenko and G.V. Nosovsky? And earlier, Egypt was also a Christian country, of course, with its own national flavor, and the popes on this basis decorated Rome with obelisks.
It seems to me that all the same, errors crept in in determining the age of the Pantheon, perhaps messages about the rebuilding of the dome or the entire building are lost.
It is curious that after the restoration and close study of the famous sculpture of the Capitoline she-wolf, its real, and not the chronicle age, was established. It turns out that the sculpture was made in the XII century, and not in 500 BC, as previously reported. It happens that the ancient chroniclers wrote about one structure, and historians attributed these records to a completely different one. Perhaps, after additional research, the age of the Pantheon will be revised, and with it the whole of Ancient Rome.
Although claims about the antiquity of a city or clan promise such privileges that it will not be easy to do something like this. The plaque in the museum next to the Capitoline she-wolf has not been changed.
Very close to the Pantheon is no less. Firstly, its name immediately surprises, combining the incompatible - the ancient Greek goddess and the Holy Virgin Mary, and secondly, this church was the support of the Inquisition, it was there that numerous convicts pronounced their denials of heresy, and fires were laid in its courtyard. One of the works of Michelangelo is kept in the temple ...
The Pantheon (Pantheon) - this is one of the main attractions of Rome, today it is the oldest building that has fully preserved its appearance since the time of the Roman Empire. The Pantheon is rightfully called an architectural wonder of the world, and it is simply impossible not to visit it during a trip to Rome.
The name "Pantheon" means "Temple of All Gods". From Greek "pan" is translated as "all", and "theon" - "divine".
History of the Roman Pantheon
The history of the Pantheon begins in the years 27-25. BC. The very first temple was erected in honor of the main ancient Roman gods.
The temple was built under the leadership of the consul Mark Agrippa. It was he who decided to decorate the Pantheon with marble, statues, and point the facade to the south. A bronze inscription on the portico of the Pantheon “M. Agrippa L. F. cos Tertium Fecit ", which can be translated as" Mark Agrippa, consul for the third time, erected this building. "
The original appearance of the Pantheon was badly damaged during a fire in 80 AD. Thanks to the Emperor Domitian, the Temple, like many other structures, was rebuilt. But this appearance was also lost as a result of a lightning strike.
During the reign of Emperor Andrian (117-138), the Pantheon of Agrippa was rebuilt and acquired a new look, as the emperor wanted to see the temple in the form of a globe and a celestial sphere. Andrian's idea was brought to life by the famous architect of those times, Apollodoro Damascus.
According to the idea of Appolodor, the building was turned with a facade to the north, increased in area, and a podium with steps was installed as a foundation. But due to the unstable soil, the building gradually subsides.
Curious facts
The base of the Pantheon is spherical and therefore the upper part of the structure is domed. In the center of this dome is the so-called Eye of the Pantheon. The only "window" located in the upper part of the dome. It is through it that, once a year, on the longest day of summer (June 21), the sun's rays illuminate the main entrance.
The construction of the building was very well thought out during the construction. So, for example, the floor is made slightly elevated in the center, for effective drainage of rainwater into the most complex underground sewage system. The walls are designed more to support a powerful dome. Therefore, depending on the height, they have different thickness and structure.
The entrance to the Pantheon is built in the form of a majestic portico and a double row of massive columns in the Greek style. All this is decorated with marble of various shades, brought not only from the vicinity of Rome, but also from Egypt. Along the entire perimeter of the building, holes in the walls are visible, presumably from elements of the bronze decoration, which, by order of Pope Urban VIII, was removed for the decoration of St. Peter's Basilica.
Inside the Pantheon consists of two halls - the front hall (entrance hall) and the round hall. In the absence of windows, the building has good ventilation and acoustics, and up to two thousand people can be in the inner hall at the same time. In the front hall there are columns of gray and red granite. Once there were statues of Augustus Octavian and Marcus Agrippa.
The entrance to the round hall is fenced off by massive bronze doors that have been preserved since ancient times. The walls and floor are also finished with marble cladding and slabs. Within the walls of the large hall there are eight niches - the entrance and niches, in which the statues of the seven main gods of the ancient Romans were originally located. Now in these niches there are statues of Christian saints.
In medieval times, the existence of the Pantheon was threatened. Since the Roman Empire fell, everything that was reminiscent of it in early Christianity was considered pagan. But, thanks to Pope Boniface IV, the temple was chosen by the believers and consecrated into a church.
The Christian faith has left its marks on the walls and in the interior of the Pantheon. Frescoes and icons appeared on the walls, the altar and sculptures of saints became part of the modern temple, and the burials of the great people of that era add even more value to the monument. At various times, not only outstanding artists were buried here (del Vaga, Carraccia, Rafael Santi with his bride, Arcangello Corelli, etc.), but also representatives of the royal dynasty of Savoy.
The Pantheon of Agrippa is a truly valuable monument of ancient architecture, which, centuries later, was able to convey its historical appearance to us.
The Pantheon is open every day from 9 to 19.00, admission is free (after all, this is a functioning church), it is best to visit in the morning at 9-10 - at this time there are fewer tourists.
You can order an interesting sightseeing tour of Rome with a visit to the Pantheon by writing to the mail [email protected] or by phone +39 3275381738 (also viber, whats "app)
The Pantheon in Rome is one of the most famous landmarks in Italy. But the significance of this ancient building is much more than its architectural excellence! Do you know what it symbolizes? Who is buried in it? What secret has been kept for more than 2000 years? And why is he so famous? Read about this in the article.
"Angelic, not human project" ... These words were used by one of the greatest geniuses of art of all time - Michelangelo, to describe the beauty and grandeur of the Pantheon. Thousands of years later, the building remains as magnificent as it was at the beginning of its life.
This word has several meanings.
The original purpose of the temple is still unclear. Historians say it was a place of worship for pagan gods. But the structure of the building is very different from other traditional temples in the Roman forum.
The interior of the Pantheon in the 18th century. Artist Giovanni Paolo Panini - 1AHJFNF8OkfG9Q at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, LinkThe statesman, historian Cassius Dio (155 - 235) wrote in his History of Rome: “ It may have got this name 〈building〉 because it is decorated with numerous statues of gods, including Mars and Venus; but my own opinion: because of its dome. He resembles heaven».
It is believed that the building was intended for the "great deeds" of the emperors, i.e. was administrative and was intended to glorify power. Now it belongs to the Catholic Church and is officially called the "Basilica of Santa Maria Martyr" (Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs).
Building address: Piazza della Rotonda (Piazza della Rotonda) in Rome (Italy).
Metro station Barberini (line A)
Buses # 30, 40, 62, 64, 81, 87 and 492
Tram number 8
You can find it at the sign "Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres".
Opening hours
09:00 to 19:30, Sun 09:00 to 18:00.
Since this is a functioning temple, admission is free. The Byzantine emperor Phocas handed it over to Pope Boniface IV. Since then, starting in 609, mass has been held here every day. And you, too, can attend the service for free!
Official Website: http://www.pantheonroma.com
You can order an unusual excursion link.
The Roman Pantheon is the best preserved and most influential building. The pediment (the triangular section above the entrance) is empty today, but there was once a sculptural depiction of the Battle of the Titans. Large bronze doors guard the entrance to the cella (interior) and were once covered in gold.
The interior was more amazing than it is today. The threshold of the sanctuary is marked by the world's largest solid block of Lucullan black and red marble. The circular shape of the Pantheon is hidden by the buildings around, and the entrance is rectangular in plan. When the visitor enters the spacious circular room, the contrast between the dark hall of the cella and the bright cult space is striking. But in ancient times it was even more impressive because the inside of the dome was covered with gilded bronze.
After Trajan's conquests in Dacia, precious metal was in abundance. Gold symbolized the highest levels of heaven. It was believed that they consist of a pure primary element of fire.
Inside the rotunda (round hall) there are seven apses (building protrusions). Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903), German historian, Nobel Prize in Literature 1902 for his work "Roman History", an honorary citizen of Rome, suggested that they contained statues of seven planetary gods and Julius Caesar, deified after death.
The order of the statues in the temple is not recorded in written sources. But since the time of the Sicilian scientist Archimedes (287-212 BC), it was customary to use the sequence: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. In this case, the statue of the Sun should have stood in the central apse, directly opposite the entrance.
On the one hand, the Sun had three male planets: the son of Mars, the father of Jupiter and the grandfather of Saturn. On the other hand, Venus, the effeminate Mercury and the Moon. Saturn and the Moon were farthest from the Sun. According to ancient theory, they were the coldest planets. Favorable planets (Moon, Jupiter, Venus) and unfavorable (Saturn, Mercury, Mars) made up two equilateral triangles. So seven apses symbolized the universe.
The Pantheon Dome remains the largest unreinforced dome in the world and an unrivaled gem of architecture! A striking aspect of the vaulted space is the "eye" or "oculus" - the only source of light in the building.
A column of light from the oculus opens the way to Eternity. Photo: Vladimir Shelyapin - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, LinkIn the II century, the philosophical ideas of Plato quickly gained popularity:
“This spherical body has a soul; she lives in the center of it; from there, her actions spread throughout the body; it produces all movements in the universe, it is the cause of order in the universe, the source of all cosmic life; the actions of the soul of the universe are manifested especially in the movements of the starry sky and planets. The soul of the universe, says Plato, is a being in between pure mind (spirit) and material beings; it contains all the elements of numbers and sizes; she is a repository of mathematical laws that manifest themselves in the harmonious movement of the cosmos. " (A source: Plato on the Universe)
Plato's ideas explain the cosmological function not only of the dome with an opening, but of the entire building. Hence its name (after Cassius Dion).
The stream of airy light through the oculus opens the way to heaven. In winter, when the sun is low in the sky, the column of light moved along the apses and the gilded dome - a kind of planetarium was obtained. There is a day of the year when a ray hits right in front of the entrance. Some argue that this happens on the birthday of Rome on April 21, others on the spring solstice (March 23), and still others on the summer equinox (June 23).
Today's Pantheon is the third version of the temple built on this site!
This is explained by the inscription above the entrance: “M · AGRIPPA · L · F · COS · TERTIVM · FECIT”, which means: “ Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this". But Agrippa lived in the 1st century BC. And its creation date is considered to be 126, i.e. already II century. How is this possible?
Emperor Hadrian never wrote his name on the architectural structures that he created during his reign, with the exception of the temple dedicated to Trajan, his father. Can this inscription serve as proof that the Roman Pantheon was built by Marcus Agrippa and was only restored under Hadrian?
Still, historians to the question "Who was the architect of the Pantheon in Rome?" answer: presumably Appolodor originally from Damascus... He was Trajan's favorite, the builder of the bridge over the Danube (over 1 km long), the Alconetar bridge in Spain, etc. But Adrian himself could have taken part in the work. His architectural creations are known: the villa of Hadrian, the Temple of Venus, the Arch of Hadrian in Athens, etc.
Appolodor scoffed at Adrian's fascination with the arts. The emperor did not forgive him the insult. He exiled the architect and, after being accused of fictional crimes, sentenced him to death.
Dimensions of the dome of the Pantheon:
Originally, the eight front porch columns were of gray marble, the four inner ones were of red. In the 17th century, three corner columns collapsed - they were replaced by two columns from the baths of Nero and a column from Domitian's villa.
To enter the temple, you need to go down the stairs. But initially there were 4 steps leading up to the entrance! Centuries-old layers have absorbed not only these steps, but the floor level was even lower than the ground.
Plan of the Pantheon in Rome (Posted by Georg Dehio / Gustav von Bezold - This image is taken from Georg Dehio / Gustav von Bezold: Kirchliche Baukunst des Abendlandes. its age, it is to be used with care. It may not reflect the latest knowledge or the current state of the depicted structure., Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=522888 ) The height of the Pantheon in Rome is 43 meters. Architectural style - .
When the temple was handed over to the Christian church, the remains of Christian martyrs buried in the catacombs were transferred here.
The Pantheon has also become a grave for important people in Italian history. Here lie the remains of the kings Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I, as well as the famous Renaissance artist Raphael and his bride.
Raphael became engaged to Mary, the niece of the powerful cardinal, in 1514. But he postponed the marriage for six years. During this period, he had a passionate affair with the daughter of a local baker. Maria did not survive the betrayal. Raphael died soon after. He was 37 years old.
Tomb of Raphael By Ricardo André Frantz (User: Tetraktys) - taken by Ricardo André Frantz, CC BY-SA 3.0, LinkAny facts about the history of the building and the life of this ancient building are interesting. You have already learned about many of them. Let's list them.
Another interesting fact is the entire history of alterations of an architectural monument. Although the size and shape of the building remained unchanged, the ancient Romans still saw it differently. The bronze quadriga and the sculptural groups that adorned the temple have disappeared. The outer walls of the temple were faced with marble, fragments of which are kept in the British Museum. And the interior of the temple looked somewhat different: it was decorated with a golden dome, gilded doors and statues of ancient Roman gods. Now there is a Christian altar, frescoes of saints and other symbols of faith.
In 1270, a Romanesque bell tower was added over the portico, which was demolished by order of Pope Urban VIII in the 17th century. Together with her, they removed the bronze sculptures that adorned the facade. Bronze was used to melt down the cannons of the Castle of Sant'Angelo in Rome and to make the helical columns of the altar.
Pantheon in Rome with Bernini's bell towers. (
