The Pantheon is one of the main and significant sights of Rome, which has a rather respectable age of more than two thousand years, and this is the only ancient building in the city that has not turned into ruins and has been preserved in its more or less original form of ancient times.
The first building of the Pantheon was built in 27 BC by the consul Mark Agrippa, and the name of the building in ancient Greek means "Temple of All Gods". In those days, statues of the deified Caesar and the most revered Roman gods - Jupiter, Venus, Neptune, Mars, Mercury, Pluto and Saturn, who were worshiped by the Romans, were placed inside the building. During a fire that occurred in 80 AD. uh. the temple was destroyed by fire. Later it was restored by the emperor Domitian, but in 110 AD. the temple burned down again.
About 118-125 years. AD under Emperor Hadrian, the building of the Pantheon was restored, or rather, rebuilt, while, surprisingly, the name of its original founder was preserved, as evidenced by the inscription in Latin - “Mark Agrippa, son of Lucius, elected consul for the third time, erected this” . The second inscription, made in smaller letters, mentions the restoration carried out under Septimius Severus and Caracalla in 202 AD, which did not affect the appearance of the temple at all.
The perfection of the building suggests that the greatest architect of that time, Apollodorus of Damascus, the creator of the Forum of Trajan in Rome, took part in its restoration, by the way, later executed by the same Adrian for his critical remarks about the architectural projects of Hadrian himself. A fan of Greek culture, the emperor himself worked actively as an architect, not forgetting to glorify himself with triumphal arches and statues in the temples he built. Not distinguished by particular modesty, he installed his statue in the temple of Zeus he completed in Athens, a gilded statue in Epidaurus, and in Rome erected a giant equestrian monument (according to Dion Cassius, a person could pass through the eye of a horse). Adrian also built for himself extensive villas around Rome and a huge tomb on the banks of the Tiber, which has survived to this day as the famous castle of St. Angel.
But let's get back to the Pantheon and, before continuing its history, briefly about the building itself. The cylindrical building with walls six meters thick, cast in concrete, is crowned with a huge dome with a diameter of 43 meters - the pinnacle of engineering and unsurpassed in size until the 19th century. Only the dome of St. Peter's Cathedral has an almost equal diameter - 42.6 meters, and the famous dome of the Florentine Cathedral is only 42 meters, and even then, it was built with great problems for 16 years! The inner surface of the dome is decorated with 140 caissons. These decorative recesses are designed to reduce the weight of the vault and protect the dome from collapsing. Scientists have calculated that the approximate weight of the dome is about five thousand tons. With an increase in the height of the vault, the thickness of its walls decreases and at the base of the window, located in the center of the dome, it is only 1.5 meters.
A hole with a diameter of 9 meters represents an eye to the sky. This is the only source of light and air in the building. Sunlight penetrating from above creates a smoky pillar, standing under which you can feel like a divine creation, ready to ascend to heaven. By the way, it turned out that exactly at noon on the March equinox, the sun illuminates the entrance to the Roman Pantheon. A similar effect is also observed on April 21, when the ancient Romans celebrated the anniversary of the founding of the city. At this time, the sun falls on the metal grill above the doorway, filling the courtyard with the colonnade with light. Built on the orders of Adrian, a great lover of lighting effects, the sun seemed to invite the emperor to enter the Pantheon, confirming his divine status. The rays of the sun, penetrating the temple through a hole in the dome, also marked the days and hours.
The outer wall of the temple was originally covered with marble, which, alas, has not been preserved. Some fragments of marble decor can be seen in the British Museum.
The entrance to the Pantheon is adorned with a majestic portico with a triangular pediment, once crowned with a bronze quadriga, later lost forever.
The three-row colonnade consists of sixteen Corinthian columns of pink and gray granite with a span of one and a half meters, a height of 12 meters and a weight of 60 tons. They were carved in the eastern mountains of Egypt, then rolled along the logs for 100 km to the Nile, and already through Alexandria they were delivered to Ostia, the seaport of Rome. Initially, all the front eight columns of the porch were of gray marble, and only the inner four of pink. In the 17th century, three corner columns collapsed, replaced by two columns taken from the baths of Nero and a column from the villa of Domitian. In those ancient times, a short staircase led to the portico, which eventually went deep underground.
With the fall of the Roman Empire, the fate of the Pantheon was not the easiest. At the very beginning of the 5th century, the Pantheon was closed, abandoned, and then completely plundered by the Visigoths.
In 608, the Byzantine emperor Phocas transferred the building to Pope Boniface IV, and on May 13, 609, the Pantheon was consecrated as a Christian church of the Holy Virgin Mary and the Martyrs. The same pope ordered that Christian martyrs be collected from Roman cemeteries and their remains placed in the church, which is why it got such a name. Until that time, all Christian churches were located on the outskirts of the city, and the fact that the main pagan temple, located in the very center of the city, became Christian, meant the dominant importance of the Christian religion in Rome.
Subsequent years and centuries sometimes made negative adjustments to the appearance of the Pantheon. During the period from the 7th to the 14th century, the Pantheon suffered many times and much harm was done to it by the efforts of those in power. The gilded bronze sheets covering the dome were removed by order of the Byzantine emperor Constans II during his visit to Rome in 655, and the ships on which they were transported to Constantinople were plundered by Saracen pirates off the coast of Sicily. In 733, by order of Pope Gregory III, the dome was covered with lead plates, and in 1270, a Romanesque bell tower was added above the portico of the Pantheon, giving the building an awkward look. Throughout the innovations, the sculptures that adorned the facade of the building were lost.
From 1378 to 1417, during the residence of the popes in Avignon, the Pantheon acted as a fortress in the struggle between the powerful Roman families Colonna and Orsini. With the return of the papacy to Rome under Pope Martin V, the restoration of the temple and the cleansing of the shacks stuck to it began. In 1563, under Pope Pius IV, a bronze door was restored, stolen by an army of vandals during the attack and sack of Rome in 455.
In the 17th century, by decree of Pope Urban VIII, Barberini, the bell tower was demolished, and by his order, the bronze coverings of the portico were removed, which went to the casting of cannons for the castle of Sant'Angelo and the manufacture of helical columns for the canopy in St. Peter's Cathedral. This act of vandalism was reflected by the saying invented by the inhabitants of Rome, who beat the name of the pope: “Quod non Barbari Fecerunt Barberini” - “What the barbarians did not do, Barberini did.” The failed architectural project of the same pope, in the form of two small bell towers along the edges of the pediment of the Pantheon, was commissioned to be carried out by Bernini, received the irreverent name "Bernini's donkey ears" and was eventually demolished in 1883.
Subsequently, the Roman Pantheon turned into the national mausoleum of Italy. His last refuge was such outstanding personalities as the architect Baldasare Peruzzi, the artist Annibale Carracci, Kings Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I, as well as the great Renaissance artist Rafael Santi.
Tomb of King Umbert I.
It is known that the outstanding artist was buried in the Pantheon. On September 14, 1833, with the permission of the Pope, the slab under the statue of the Madonna was opened to verify the fact of the burial. Within a month, the found remains of Raphael were put on display, then they were placed in an ancient Roman sarcophagus on the lid of which was carved the inscription "Here lies Raphael, during whose life great Nature was afraid to be defeated, and at the time of his death - to die herself." Above the tomb is a statue of the Madonna on the Rock, commissioned during his lifetime by Raphael himself and made by Lorenzo Lotto in 1524.
Unlike other Christian churches in Rome with their sumptuous façades, the façade of the Pantheon does not prepare the visitor for the beauty of its interior. However, once you pass through the gigantic door, about 7.50 meters wide and 12.60 meters high, you are confronted with a truly impressive splendor.
Interior of the Pantheon in the 18th century, painted by Giovanni Paolo Panini.
The interior decoration has undergone more significant changes - the upper part of the walls was covered with marble inlay, and the floor was paved with multi-colored slabs of marble, porphyry and granite. During the 15th-17th centuries, false niches and altars were added, decorated with various relics and works of art, the most significant of which is the painting "Annunciation" by Melozzo da Forli.
And a few more photos from the interior of the Pantheon.
Despite the fact that the Pantheon has long ceased to be just a place to communicate with God, it is still used as a church, for example, masses are served in it during significant Christian holidays.
The doors of the Pantheon are open daily from 9.00 to 19.30, and on Sundays - until 19.00. But it is best to come in the morning, when the square is empty and you can safely take pictures. And from the beginning of the opening, get into the Pantheon and also walk through its hall without crowds.
Text, photo - @ SPRATO
The Pantheon is the most mysterious of all the buildings of Ancient Rome. No one really knows 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 is standing. It is believed that its construction was 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 calculus accepted today. Those. some logical chains of reasoning (correct or incorrect) were built, and on their basis the completion of the construction of the Temple of all the 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. Entry to active churches is free, enjoy.
Audio guides in Russian are available Strange lack of history of perestroika
Wikipedia (I read an 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 to be repaired, nothing lasts forever. Does the Pantheon take almost forever? Remember the landowners' estates in Russia, built in a similar way to the Pantheon from brick and mortar. What state are they in? But they have been abandoned for only 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, because it collapsed in 1902 in the classic way - it fell apart into separate bricks. Those. the bonds between the bricks loosened to such an extent that the entire structure literally turned into a pile of construction debris in just a few moments.
And the Pantheon is almost 1000 years older than the Campanile, according to the official historical version.
The Pantheon stands in a flood zone, any builder will say that it is very harmful for the building I found the oldest image of the Pantheon from the 17th century. The painting was painted by the Dutch Golden Age painter Willem van Nieulandt II, who was born and lived permanently in Antwerp. Even then it looked abandoned, but in order to overgrow with bushes, the building does not need millennia, 10-15 years of lack of care will be enough.
View of the Pantheon, Willem van Nieulandt II (years of life 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 at the 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.
Pay attention to how the surroundings have changed in the 150 years since the previous picture was written. Houses approached almost close to the temple. And they remain in the same proximity to this day.
View of Rome, Piranesi, 1761, kept in the Museum of San Francisco Traces of the reconstruction of the Pantheon, however, are striking, but for some reason nothing is reported about them. Pay attention above the portico, traces of the previous portico are clearly visible. Read the history of any ancient structure other than the Roman one and you will see a long line of rebuilds and repairs. And the history of the ancient Pantheon is divided into three segments:
- The Pantheon of the beginning of the first millennium, with fires, destruction and restoration by the year 120. Oblivion for almost 400 years.
- Then follows a brief episode with the closing of a pagan temple and the opening of a Christian one in the same building in 609. Oblivion for about 900 years.
- Further history continues already in the XVI century.
Total 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 was subjected to a thorough restructuring. 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 capitals are also original.
Above the main altar Mysterious Dome
The main mystery of the Temple of All Gods is its dome. Concrete, not reinforced dome, which is about 2000 years old??? The researchers report that the lower tiers of the dome are made of harder concrete than the upper ones. And pumice stone was mixed into the concrete of the upper tiers to facilitate the construction. Until now, the dome of the Pantheon remains the largest non-reinforced 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.
Caisson 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 told about the problems that the architect faced. They were afraid that the huge and very heavy dome would crush the walls of the cathedral.
Against the backdrop of the dome of the Pantheon, Brunelleschi's genius fades, had he never seen the Temple of All the Gods in Rome and could not have tried to do something like that? But it is obvious that he did not see it, although his biography says that he went to study the ancient ruins of Rome, but it is not specifically said that he studied the dome of the Pantheon. The dome of Santa Maria del Fiore is double in order to distribute the load, i.e. by design, it is completely different.
Legends of the Pantheon
To begin with, I note that the Romans themselves recognize their skill in composing and promoting legends to life. After all, having heard a lot of beautiful stories, tourists will rush to Rome, one of the main sources of income for Italians. Therefore, Roman legends should be treated accordingly. However, the following stories are true.
Roman legends say that the Pantheon was built on the site from which Romulus, the founder of Rome, ascended to heaven. And various Temples of all the gods have stood on this spot since the founding of Rome. And that is not all.
They also say that in order to make a dome, the entire 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, they allowed the people to take the land from the premises along with the coins. It is said that the walls were freed from the ground within a day.
These legends say that how the formwork for pouring the dome was made is not known.
Amazing harmony of forms
The interior of the Pantheon has the shape of a cylinder, the height of which is equal to the radius of the sphere of the dome, and is 43.3 meters. There are no windows inside at all, except for a mysterious hole in the center of the dome, also known as the Oculus!
Drawing to illustrate the harmony of forms 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 merges into a special hole. Obviously, during the initial construction, a significant role was assigned to a ray of light penetrating inside through the eye.
In the Niches, located around the temple, there were 7 statues of Roman gods, however, correlated with the 7 planets of antiquity (Sun, Moon, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars.). And a beam of light during the day bypassed only half the circle and illuminated the statues of the daytime 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 grill above the doorway. The Romans celebrated on 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
Burials in the Pantheon also began to be made already in the 16th century, with the exception of a strange episode from the time of the conversion of the temple from pagan to Christian. Pope Boniface IV is said to have ordered 28 cartloads of the bones of saints from the Roman catacombs to be transported to the Pantheon in 609.
Currently, the Pantheon houses the graves of Raphael Santi (life 1483-1520), architect Baldassare Peruzzi (life 1481-1536), painter Annibale Carracci (life 1560-1609), composer Arcangelo Corelli (life 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 own Pantheon in Paris and also began to bury the great people of France in it.
Burial of Raphael Santi In architecture, many imitations of the Roman Pantheon are known, but all of them were built no earlier than the 16th century.
Strange circles of red porphyry in the floors
The Temple of All Gods retains its original marble floor, made up of a series of geometric patterns, dating back to ancient Roman times. However, we saw a large circle on the red porphyry floor 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 been worn a bit in 2000 years, I think many of you have seen heavily worn marble floors and stairs in much younger buildings in your life. Or are the floors not original or in Rome marble of exceptional hardness?
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 in Hagia Sophia, which is located in Istanbul, there is the same circle. It turns out that Christian churches have inherited the tradition of making such porphyry circles in their floors from pagan temples? After all, the Pantheon was originally built as a pagan temple.
Floor in St. Peter's Basilica In St. Peter's Cathedral, emperors were crowned standing on the circle, in Hagia Sophia the imperial throne stood on this place, but then what did this circle mean in the modest basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin? Does anyone know the answer to this question?
Mysterious pediment
Only in the 17th century, at the behest of Pope Urban VIII, some bronze figures were removed from the pediment of the Pantheon, standing there since the time of the Roman emperors. It is assumed that it was an imperial eagle with a ribbon. Urban VIII sent antique bronzes to be melted down for 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." This is the only fragment left of the original temple built by Agrippa, and it is believed that Hadrian 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. Restoring a drawing or inscriptions from traces (holes in the wall) left after their loss looks rather doubtful. There are a lot of holes in the pediment.
The strange columns of the portico
The 16 massive Corinthian columns supporting the portico weigh 60 tons each. They are 11.8 m high, 1.5 m in diameter and came to Rome from Egypt. These columns were dragged over 100 km from the quarry to the Nile River on wooden sleds. They were bargeed down the Nile River when water levels were high during the spring floods, and then transferred to other ships to cross the Mediterranean towards the Roman port of Ostia. There they were once again loaded back onto barges and sent up the Tiber River.
Base of the Pantheon There is such a ZigZag blogger in St. Petersburg. He develops the theory that our St. Isaac's Cathedral was built by "aliens", and not, based on the facts that the columns of Isaac are made of monolithic granite and weigh 114 tons each. It was impossible to cut down and transport and process these giants 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, damage was noted on the Piranesi engraving from 1761. Isaac's columns are almost perfectly polished, they have only chips caused during the Second World War, there are also patches made during construction.
Another strange fact
In 609, the Pantheon became the first pagan temple to be converted into a church, and so it was saved from destruction during the Middle Ages. Here I want to ask a question: “The first of what 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.
About the fountain and the Egyptian obelisk in front of the Pantheon
There is a beautiful fountain in the square in front of the Pantheon. It was designed by the famous architect Giacomo della Porta in 1575 and 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 an obelisk of Ramses II, located in the center on a plinth with four dolphins at the base.
The base of the fountain in the Place Rotunda I would like to note the love of the Popes for granite Egyptian obelisks. In total, as many as 13 such obelisks have been installed in Rome, many of them have hieroglyphs. Almost all Roman obelisks tell similar stories. First, in the days of Ancient Rome, the obelisk was delivered by sea from Egypt, then it adorned the capital of the Empire for some time, then it was found during excavations carried out already in the 17th-18th centuries and installed on new pedestals. All obelisks were erected by order of the Popes.
Piazza Rotunda in Rome with an 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 note that in St. Petersburg in the Sosnovka forest park, wooden idols were destroyed literally in the spring of 2015 for religious reasons, although most of the townspeople and I never saw any pagan overtones in the wooden sculptures installed in the forest park. That's how different we are.
Or maybe A.T.'s new chronologists are right. 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, nevertheless, errors crept in in determining the age of the Pantheon, perhaps messages about the restructuring of the dome or the entire building were lost.
It is curious that after the restoration and close study of the famous sculpture of the Capitoline Wolf, its real, and not annalistic, 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 building, and historians attributed these records to a completely different one. Maybe after additional research, the age of the Pantheon will be revised, and with it the entire Ancient Rome.
Although statements about the antiquity of a city or clan promise such privileges that it will not be easy to do something like that. The sign in the museum next to the Capitoline 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 backbone of the Inquisition, it was there that numerous convicts pronounced their renunciations of heresy, bonfires were laid out in its courtyard. The temple houses one of the works of Michelangelo ...
The Pantheon is one of the main attractions of Rome, today it is the oldest building that has completely preserved its appearance since the time of the Roman Empire. The Pantheon is rightly 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 the Greek "pan" is translated as "all", and "theon" - "divine".
History of the Roman Pantheon
The history of the Pantheon begins in 27-25 years. 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 Marcus Agrippa. It was he who decided to finish 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 "Marcus Agrippa, consul for the third time, erected this building."
The original view of the Pantheon was badly damaged during a fire in 80 AD. Thanks to the emperor Domitian, the Temple, like many other buildings, was rebuilt. But this appearance was also lost as a result of a lightning strike.
During the reign of Emperor Andrian (117-138), Agrippa's Pantheon 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 of Damascus.
As planned by Apollodorus, 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 unstable soil, the building gradually sags.
Curious facts
The base of the Pantheon is spherical and therefore the upper part of the building has a domed shape. 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 once a year on the longest day of summer (June 21) that the sun's rays illuminate the main entrance.
During construction, the design of the building was very well thought out. So, for example, the floor is made slightly elevated in the center, for the effective flow of rainwater into the most complex underground sewerage. The walls are designed more to support a powerful dome. Therefore, depending on the height, they have a 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 finished with marble of various shades, brought not only from the environs of Rome, but also from Egypt. Holes in the walls are visible along the entire perimeter of the building, presumably from elements of 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 made 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. Eight niches are located in the walls of the large hall - 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 under threat. 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 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 burial places of the great people of that era give the monument even greater value. At various times, not only prominent artists were buried here (del Vaga, Carracchii, 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 daily from 9 am to 7 pm, admission is free (after all, this is a functioning church), it is best to visit in the morning at 9-10 am - 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 is another important historical landmark of Rome, with a visit to which a tourist trip to the eternal city is certainly associated.
The ancient Pantheon is a pagan temple, which, during the heyday of the Catholic religion, was illuminated and acquired the status of the Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs. Thus, this amazing structure has experienced a new birth.
The Pantheon or the Temple of All Gods is known not only as a magnificent example of architecture from the era of the ancient world, but also as the burial place of Italian kings, and it also houses the tomb of the famous Raphael. The structure has been so well preserved since ancient times that it did not even require significant reconstruction.
History of the Pantheon
The Pantheon was built in the 2nd century AD. on the site of an ancient temple erected by order of Marcus Agrippa (Marcus Agrippa) in 27 BC. Consul Agrippa was a relative of the first emperor of Rome, Octavian Augustus.
Temple of Agrippa
It was the first temple erected not in honor of one or two deities, as was done before, but in honor of all the main ancient Roman gods at once.
Another feature of the temple was that all the townspeople could enter the temple through the triumphal arch along with the priests. Prior to this, all rituals were held on the adjacent square, and only priests had the right to enter the building.
At that time, such ancient Roman gods as Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, Mercury, Neptune and Saturn were worshiped in the Pantheon, for whom animal sacrifices were arranged. For these rituals in the building, a hole was specially made in the dome - the "oculus" (oculus), under which the altar was located.
Interestingly, the original building had the shape of a square. It survived two fires and already in 80 AD. It was almost destroyed, and in its place they arranged a bath pool.
Temple of Hadrian
The Pantheon acquired the shape of a circle only in 118-125 AD. under Hadrian (Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus), who built a new temple on the site of the former.
The creator of the project and the head of the construction work was Apollodorus of Damascus. The spherical dome erected by him became a real architectural miracle.
Church of St Mary and the Martyrs
In 608, Emperor Phocas transferred the Pantheon to the power of the church, namely, to Pope Boniface IV, who lit the building and turned it into a temple of the Catholic religion. Of course, all the pagan sculptures of the gods were taken out.
In addition, the pope ordered the remains of the first adherents of Christianity to be transferred to the temple. So the temple received a new name - the Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs. Under the patronage of Pope Boniface IV, the temple has retained its original state.
medieval fortress
However, the Pantheon was not always used as a church. From the 14th to the 16th century, it even served as a fortress. Its walls were so powerful that they could withstand even strong military blows. After a four hundred year period of decline, the building regained the status of a temple.
Currently
To date, this is one of the few buildings of the ancient Roman era, so well preserved to our time.
It is impossible to come to Rome and pass by the Pantheon - one of the ancient symbols of Rome, which over the course of many centuries has turned from a temple of pagan culture into a Catholic resting place for the famous inhabitants of the eternal city.
Architecture
The Pantheon is distinguished by its unique architectural design. The thickness of its walls is 6 meters, and the dome has a width of 43.3 meters. The shape of the Pantheon is carefully calibrated and built in such a way that its interior space is an ideal spherical figure.
At the same time, the huge rotunda does not put pressure on visitors, but rises weightlessly in the form of a vault of heaven. The feeling of spherical space is further enhanced by the fact that the building reaches almost as many meters in height as it does in diameter - about 42 meters.
Pantheon window
In particular, the uniqueness of the architecture of the building concerns the windows. The fact is that there are no windows in the Pantheon in the usual sense. Light and air enter the structure through a single opening located at the top of the dome and called the “Eye of the Pantheon”.
The diameter of the hole is 9 meters. Since the only window of the temple is open to precipitation, a special drainage system has been arranged in the Pantheon.
In pagan times, there was an altar under this hole, and its exclusivity symbolized the unity of all the ancient gods worshiped by the Romans before the adoption of Christianity.
It is noteworthy that the statues of the gods were located in the ancient Pantheon in such a way that the light from the "oculus" alternately fell on each of them, depending on the location of the sun at different times of the year.
Currently, in place of the statues of the gods, once personifying pagan culture, there are paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance.
Dome of the Pantheon
On the surface of the dome from the inside there are 140 caissons. They serve not only for decorative purposes, but also to reduce the mass of the dome. After all, the total weight of the vault is 5 thousand tons.
At the same time, the higher to the center of the dome, the smaller the mass and thickness of the material. At the base of the vault, its thickness is 6 meters, and next to the "oculus" - only 1.5 meters.
At the entrance to the temple
As you approach the Pantheon, you will see a portico made up of 16 granite Corinthian columns. Inside you can go through the portal of the times of Ancient Rome.
On the triangular pediment under the roof of the building there are holes, in which the sculptural composition "Clash of the Titans" was previously located. The sculpture has not survived to this day, because it was of pagan origin.
The doors in the temple are very heavy and powerful, they belong to the 14th-16th centuries, when the Pantheon served for defensive purposes. At the entrance there are sculptures of Agrippa and Hadrian.
The dome rests on the walls, divided into two tiers. In the lower tier there are 7 equal niches that lighten the overall weight of the structure. The walls of the temple are lined with marble.
What to see inside
There are always a lot of tourists in the Pantheon itself and in the square near it, because Piazza della Rotonda is no less attractive and interesting than an ancient temple with a unique history.
Currently, the Pantheon stores not only unique paintings and sculptures of the 18th century, but also the remains of Italian kings - Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel II, Queen Margarita, as well as the tomb of Raphael (Raffaello Santi) and tombstones of other artists - Carracci and Zuccari .
legends
Undoubtedly, there are many legends around such an ancient monument of architecture and pagan culture. According to one of them, in order to build a dome, the building was filled with earth, along with gold coins, with specially even flooring. Just imagine how many coins have accumulated for the construction of a dome of such a height!
After the work was completed, the emperor allowed the Romans to take all the coins that they could later find. So the coins that filled the space of the structure disappeared from the Pantheon.
Another legend concerns a hole in the dome. Many assume that it was not originally designed in the Pantheon, but was formed during the first mass, when evil pagan creatures tried to break out.
How to get to the Pantheon
The Pantheon can be reached by metro and get off at the Barberini station, or by one of the many buses plying the center of Rome.
The Pantheon is located in Piazza della Rotonda. How to get there.
Pantheon in Rome (Italy) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.
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The Pantheon is an ancient pagan temple, later consecrated as the Christian church of St. Mary and the Martyrs, dedicated to all Roman deities at once. This architectural object of the pre-Christian era has survived to this day and amazes with its grandeur not only archaeologists, but also ordinary tourists.
The inscription on the facade "M. Agrippa L. F. Cos. Tertium Fecit" reads: "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, thrice consul, did."
Architecture
Take, for example, planning. The Pantheon has no windows. Generally. There is only one hole at the very top of the dome with a diameter of 9 meters. And it's not that the ancient Romans were too lazy to punch windows in thick walls. Just one hole meant the unity of all deities. It is said that during a snowfall, when the snowflakes fall into the "oculus" (as it is called), they form fabulous swirls. However, it is better to see it with your own eyes.
Along the perimeter of the temple, in niches, there were statues of deities, on which light from a hole in the dome alternately fell during the year. But these statues, alas, have not been preserved (after all, the building is more than 2000 years old), and their place is now occupied by sculptures and paintings of the 18th century.
How to get
The Pantheon is located in Piazza della Rotonda, so far you can visit the temple for free, it is open to everyone from 8.30 to 19.30 on weekdays and from 9.00 to 18.00 on Sunday. The nearest metro station is Barberini.
Today, if you wish, you can even go through a wedding ceremony in the Pantheon. Romantic views of the tomb of Raphael and the tombstones of the first Italian kings are included.
