Pantheon Roma

Pantheon Roma. The Eighth Wonder of The Ancient WorldWhose Pantheon?—The Problem of The InscriptionThe Conventional Understanding of The PantheonWhat Was It—A Temple? A Dynastic Sanctuary?How Was It Designed and built?Who Designed The Pantheon?Why Has It Survived?The Pantheon in Rome is a true architectural wonder Described as the “sphinx of the Campus Martius”—referring to enigmas presented by its appearance and history and to the location in Rome where it was built—to visit it today is to be almost transported back to the Roman Empire itself The Roman Pantheon probably doesn’t make popular shortlists of the world’s architectural icons but it should it is one of the most imitated buildings in history For a good example look at the library Thomas Jefferson designedfor the University of Virginia While the Pantheon’s importance is undeniable there is a lot that is unknown With new evidence and fresh interpretations coming to light in recent years questions once thought settled have been reopened Most textbooks and websites confidently date the building to the Emperor Hadrian’s reign and describe its purpose as a temple to all the gods (from the Greek pan = all theos = gods) but some scholars now argue that these details are wron Archaeologists and art historians value inscriptions on ancient monuments because these can provide information about patronage dating and purpose that is otherwise difficult to come by In the case of the Pantheon however the inscription on the frieze—in raised bronze letters (modern replacements)—easily deceives as it did for many centuries It identifies in abbreviated Latin the Roman general and consul (the highest elected official of the Roman Republic) Marcus Agrippa (who lived in the first century BCE) as the patron “M[arcus] Agrippa L[ucii] F[ilius] Co[n]s[ul] Tertium Fecit” (“Marcus Agrippa son of Lucius thrice Consul built this”) The inscription was taken at face value until 1892 when a welldocumented interpretation of stamped bricks found in and around the building showed that the Pantheon standing today was a rebuilding of an earlier structure and that it was a product of Emperor Hadrian’s ( who ruled from 117138 CE) patronage built between about 11 A traditional rectangular temple first built by Agrippa The conventional understanding of the Pantheon’s genesis which held from 1892 until very recently goes something like this Agrippa built the original Pantheon in honor of his and Augustus’ military victory at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE—one of the defining moments in the establishment of the Roman Empire (Augustus would go on to become the first Emperor of Rome) It was thought that Agrippa’s Pantheon had been small and conventional a Greekstyle temple rectangular in plan Written sources suggest the building was damaged by fire around 80 CE and restored to some unknown extent under the orders of Emperor Domitian (who ruled 8196 CE) When the building was more substantially damaged by fire again in 110 CE the Emperor Trajan decided to rebuild it but only partial groundwork was carried out before his death Trajan’s successor Hadrian—a great patron of architecture and revered as one of the most effective R It is now an open question whether the building was ever a temple to all the gods as its traditional name has long suggested to interpreters Pantheon or Pantheum in Latin was more of a nickname than a formal title One of the major written sources about the building’s origin is the Roman Historyby Cassius Dio a late second to early thirdcentury historian who was twice Roman consul His account written a century after the Pantheon was completed must be taken skeptically However he provides important evidence about the building’s purpose He wrote A number of scholars have now suggested that the original Pantheon was not a temple in the usual sense of a god’s dwelling place Instead it may have been intended as a dynastic sanctuary part of a ruler cult emerging around Augustus with the original dedication being to Julius Caesar the progenitor of the family line of Augustus and Agrippa and a revered ancestor who had been the first Roman deified by the Senate Adding to The Pantheon’s basic design is simple and powerful A portico with freestanding columns is attached to a domed rotunda In between to help transition between the rectilinear portico and the round rotunda is an element generally described in English as the intermediate block This piece is itself interesting for the fact that visible on its face above the portico’s pediment is another shallow pediment This may be evidence that the portico was intended to be taller than it is (50 Roman feet instead of the actual 40 feet) Perhaps the taller columns presumably ordered from a quarry in Egypt never made it to the building site (for reasons unknown) necessitating the substitution of smaller columns thus reducing the height of the portico The Pantheon’s great interior spectacle—its enormous scale the geometric clarity of the circleinsquare pavement pattern and the dome’s halfsphere and the moving disc of light—is all the more breathtaking for the way one moves from the bustlin We do not know who designed the Pantheon but Apollodorus of Damascus Trajan’s favorite builder is a likely candidate—or perhaps someone closely associated with Apollodorus He had designed Trajan’s Forum and at least two other major projects in Rome probably making him the person in the capital city with the deepest knowledge about complex architecture and engineering in the 110s On that basis and with some stylistic and design similarities between the Pantheon and his known projects Apollodorus’ authorship of the building is a significant possibility When it was believed that Hadrian had fully overseen the Pantheon’s design doubt was cast on the possibility of Apollodorus’ role because according to Dio Hadrian had banished and then executed the architect for having spoken ill of the emperor’s talents Many historians now doubt Dio’s account Although the evidence is circumstantial a number of obstacles to Apollodorus’ authorship have been removed by the recent develop We know very little about what happened to the Pantheon between the time of Emperor Constantine in the early fourth century and the early seventh century—a period when the city of Rome’s importance faded and the Roman Empire disintegrated This was presumably the time when much of the Pantheon’s surroundings—the forecourt and all adjacent buildings—fell into serious disrepair and were demolished and replaced How and why the Pantheon emerged from those difficult centuries is hard to say The Liber Pontificalis—a medieval manuscript containing notalwaysreliable biographies of the popes—tells us that in the 7th century Pope Boniface IV “asked the [Byzantine] emperor Phocas for the temple called the Pantheon and in it he made the church of the evervirgin Holy Mary and all the martyrs” There is continuing debate about when the Christian consecration of the Pantheon happened today the balance of evidence points to May 13 613 In later centuries the building was known as Sanctae.

Reservations required on Saturdays Sundays and public holidays The Pantheon is open from 9001900 (last admission 1830) in accordance with the recent provisions of the DCPM and in compliance with the necessary measures to guarantee a safe visit experience Access to places of culture is allowed from 682021 only with the Green Pass.

The Pantheon (Rome) – Smarthistory

Function & DedicationExterior The PorchInterior The DomeLater HistoryThe purpose of the building is not known for certain but the name porch and pediment decoration suggest a temple of some sort However no cult is known to all of the gods and so the Pantheon may have been designed as a place where the emperor could make public appearances in a setting which reminded onlookers of his divine status equal with the other gods of the Roman pantheon and his deified emperor predecessors We are told for example by Pliny the 1st century CE Roman author that there were once statues of Venus (wearing a pearl once owned by Cleopatra) Mars and Julius Caesarinside the Pantheon Following Hadrian&#39s usual practice of dedicating rebuilt buildings and monuments in honour of the original dedicator the Pantheon is dedicated to Marcus Agrippaand the prominent Latin inscription on the porch façade reads Below the main original inscription is a smaller one indicating the restorations carried out by Septimius Severus and Caracallain 202 CE and reads The whole building stands on a 13 metres high base which originally extended a further 7 metres in front of the colonnade Steps in Numidian yellow marble extended from the outer ends of this base The building consists of two principal parts the porch which is very Classical Greek in presentation and the circular main building which is much more Roman in style and reminiscent of the architecture of the large Roman baths The circular building is built using brick and concrete but was originally faced with white marble stucco to match the porch in appearance The building material of the dome is concrete with the external surface originally covered in sheets of bronze but these were removed by Constans IIin 663 The porch measures 331 x 136 metres and presents a front colonnade of eight Corinthian columns 118 metres high The monolithic column shafts are in Mons Claudianus and Aswan grey granite with the bases and capitals in white Pentelic marble The pediment above the col The Pantheon may well be the first building from Classical architecture where the interior is deliberately made to outshine the exterior The circular part of the building or rotunda was entranced via two bronze doors measuring 12 x 75 metres (those of today are ancient but not original) The rotunda measures 432 metres or 1417 feet in diameter which is exactly the maximum height of the dome itself a perfect hemisphere At the very top of the dome is an opening to the sky (oculus) which is 88 metres in diameter and has a decorative bronze sheet frieze The dome is made from a light tufa and scoria (a type of pumice) mix of concrete (caementa) and its interior is further lightened by five rings of 28 coffers which reduce in size as they rise towards the centre of the dome These may have been originally covered in bronze sheets The wallof the rotunda is 6 metres thick and has seven alcoves which are alternatively semicircular (3 alcoves) and rectangular (4 alcoves) The alcove The Pantheon like all ancient monuments has suffered a chequered history Nevertheless the building has survived remarkably well probably because relatively early in its history it was converted into the church of St Mary of the Martyrs in 608 In 1270 a bell tower was added to the porch roof and later removed Also at some time in the Middle Ages the left side of the porch was damaged which necessitated the replacement of three columns The first came from Domitian&#39s villa at Castelgandolfo and was added in 1626 The other two columns came from the Baths of Nero and were added in 1666 However these additions were rosepink in colour whilst originally the front eight columns of the porch were all grey and only the internal four were pink Aswan Also in 1626 Pope Urban VIII removed all of the bronze girders from the porch roof and recast the metal into 80 canons for the city&#39s Castel Sant&#39Angelo The presence of these girders suggests that the porch roof originally had heavy Occupation Publishing Director.

Pantheon World History Encyclopedia

The story of the Pantheon is inseparably tied to the Eternal City and been its image through the centuries Built by Agrippa between 25 and 27 BC the Pantheon was a temple dedicated to the twelve Gods and to the living Sovran Traditionally it is believed that the present building is result of the radical reconstruction by Hadrian between 118 and 125 AD It is the only ancient Roman building.

Official Website Info, Tickets & Guided Tours Pantheon Roma

Originsfrom Pagan Temple to Christian ChurchPantheon DomeThe Pantheon TodaySourcesThe presentday Pantheon is located on the site of an earlier structure of the same name constructed around 25 BC by statesman Marcus Agrippa soninlaw of the first Roman emperor Augustus Traditionally thought to have been designed as a temple for Roman gods the structure’s name is derived from the Greek words pan meaning “all” and theosmeaning “gods” The original Pantheon was destroyed in a fire around 80 AD It was rebuilt by Emperor Domitian only to be burned down again in 110 AD Hadrianbecame emperor in 117 a time when the Roman Empire included much of presentday Europe as well as parts of the Middle East and northern Africa Passionate about art and architecture he embarked on a building campaign during his reign which lasted until his death in 138 Among these building projects was a defensive fortification now referred to as Hadrian’s Wall marking the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire The wall measures 73 miles in length and stretches from coast t In 330 the capital of the Roman Empire was transferred from Rome to Byzantium (modernday Istanbul Turkey) by Emperor Constantine Afterward the Pantheon fell into a long period of disrepair In 476 the German warrior Odoacer conquered the western half of the Roman Empire where Rome was situated The Pantheon’s long decline continued Then in 609 Pope Boniface IV got permission from Byzantine emperor Phocas to convert the Pantheon into a Christian church known as in Latin as Sancta Maria ad Martyres (St Mary and the Martyrs) It was the first Roman pagan temple to be consecrated as a Christian church The conversion played a key role in the Pantheon’s survival as the papacy had the resources to repair and maintain it Made primarily from bricks and concrete the Pantheon consists of three sections a portico with granite columns a massive domed rotunda and a rectangular area connecting the other two sections Measuring 142 feet in diameter the domed ceiling was the largest of its kind when it was built At to the top of the dome sits an opening or oculus 27 feet in width The oculus which has no covering lets light—as well as rain and other weather—into the Pantheon The walls and floor of the rotunda are decorated with marble and gilt and the domed ceiling contains five rings of 28 rectangular coffers When the artist Michelangelosaw the Pantheon centuries after its construction he reportedly said it was the design of angels not of man The Pantheon proved an important influence for the great Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio as well as countless architects who followed in Europe and beyond Thomas Jefferson modeled both Monticello—his home near Charlottesville Virginia—as well a Following the Pantheon’s conversion into a Christian church it eventually became the burial place for Renaissance figures including painter Raphael composer Arcangelo Corelli and architect Baldassare Peruzzi Several monarchs are buried there too including Vittorio Emanuele II who died in 1878 and was the first king of Italy since the 6th century his son Umberto I who was assassinated in 1900 and Umberto’s wife Queen Margherita who passed away in 1926 Today the Pantheon is a major tourist destination for visitors from around the world while continuing to function as a church Catholic mass is regularly held there Hadrian life and legacy The British Museum Interior of the Pantheon Rome (painting) National Gallery of Art The Pantheon William L MacDonald Harvard University Press.