[57] These dimensions make more sense when expressed in ancient Roman units of measurement: The dome spans 150 Roman feet; the oculus is 30 Roman feet in diameter; the doorway is 40 Roman feet high. Some scholars, however, think that it was dedicated not to all the gods in the Roman pantheon, but to all the planet gods. There, they were transferred back onto barges and pulled up the Tiber River to Rome. However we don’t know for sure why the pantheon was built. This structure gives access to the door to the main building. The Pantheon, in greek, is the place where all the gods meet. The choir was added in 1840, and was designed by Luigi Poletti. As a result, the interior decorative zones do not line up. However, the concept of a temple dedicated to all the gods is highly unusual and thus questionable. [1], In the aftermath of the Battle of Actium (31 BC), Marcus Agrippa started an impressive building program: the Pantheon was a part of the complex created by him on his own property in the Campus Martius in 29–19 BC, which included three buildings aligned from south to north: the Baths of Agrippa, the Basilica of Neptune, and the Pantheon. In the Chapel of the Crucifixion, the Roman brick wall is visible in the niches. This wall is surmounted by a hemispherical dome with a large central hole (the “oculus”). At the very top, where the dome would be at its weakest and vulnerable to collapse, the oculus actually lightens the load. Lise Hetland argues that the present construction began in 114, under Trajan, four years after it was destroyed by fire for the second time (Oros. Would love your thoughts, please comment. The main building (known as the “rotonda”) with a circular ground plan and a thick windowless wall in which there are 7 large niches at ground level (8 if one includes the entrance). Even by the year 200, there was uncertainty about the origin of the building and its purpose: Agrippa finished the construction of the building called the Pantheon. On 26 May 1929, this deaconry was suppressed to establish the Cardinal Deaconry of S. Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane-Alessandrine. Originally, the Pantheon was a Roman temple dedicated to worshipping the planetary gods (the Sun, the Moon, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars) in Roman times. The altar with the royal arms is by Cirilli. The Pantheon at Rome is the most preserved and influential building of ancient Rome.. The Pope decided to use the Pantheon as a church, and hundreds of years of constant maintenance and use have allowed it to remain in very good condition. "[28] Whatever the cause of the alteration of the inscription might have been, the new inscription reflects the fact that there was a change in the building's purpose.[29]. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. [64] The oculus also serves as a cooling and ventilation method. The marble interior has largely survived, although with extensive restoration. In shape it is an immense cylinder concealing eight piers, topped with a dome and fronted by a rectangular colonnaded porch. Enshrined on the apse above the high altar is a 7th-century Byzantine icon of the Virgin and Child, given by Phocas to Pope Boniface IV on the occasion of the dedication of the Pantheon for Christian worship on 13 May 609. A competition was held to decide which architect should design it. To the sides are paintings (1661) by Francesco Cozza, one of the Virtuosi: Adoration of the Shepherds on left side and Adoration of the Magi on right. [48] Thus, it was necessary to either drag them or to move them on rollers to the construction site. These templates were probably used for checking and shaping building materials that were brought to this site, after they were unloaded from nearby docks on the Tiber. On 23 July 1725, the Pantheon was established as Cardinal-deaconry of S. Maria ad Martyres, i.e. Pope Urban VIII (1623 to 1644) ordered the bronze ceiling of the Pantheon's portico melted down. The extraordinarily precise details and elegant finishing of the ancient Roman workmanship can thus still be admired in the Pantheon. The tomb consists of a large bronze plaque surmounted by a Roman eagle and the arms of the house of Savoy. [69], The dome photographed with a fisheye lens in 2016, South east view of the Pantheon from Piazza della Minerva, 2006, The dome of the Pantheon seen from the hill of Janiculum, Tomb of King Victor Emmanuel II, "Father of his Country", As the best-preserved example of an Ancient Roman monumental building, the Pantheon has been enormously influential in Western architecture from at least the Renaissance on;[70] starting with Brunelleschi's 42-metre (138 ft) dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, completed in 1436. Each was 11.9 metres tall, 1.5 metres in diameter, and 60 tonnes in weight. Filippo Brunelleschi, among other architects, looked to the Pantheon as inspiration for their works. However, Paul the Deacon records the spoliation of the building by the Emperor Constans II, who visited Rome in July 663: Remaining at Rome twelve days he pulled down everything that in ancient times had been made of metal for the ornament of the city, to such an extent that he even stripped off the roof of the church [of the blessed Mary], which at one time was called the Pantheon, and had been founded in honour of all the gods and was now by the consent of the former rulers the place of all the martyrs; and he took away from there the bronze tiles and sent them with all the other ornaments to Constantinople. The Pantheon was originally built as a church and was dedicated to St. Genevieve. While more recent archaeological diggings have suggested that Agrippa's building might have had a circular form with a triangular porch, and it might have also faced north, much like the later rebuildings, Ziolkowski complains that their conclusions were based entirely on surmise; according to him, they did not find any new datable material, yet they attributed everything they found to the Agrippan phase, failing to account for the fact that Domitian, known for his enthusiasm for building and known to have restored the Pantheon after 80 AD, might well have been responsible for everything they found. 2. [54], The stresses in the dome were found to be substantially reduced by the use of successively less dense aggregate stones, such as small pots or pieces of pumice, in higher layers of the dome. The porch of the Pantheon and the rotunda are connected by an intermediate or transitional block, which basically consists of two wedges that adapt the rectilinear geometry of the porch to the circular geometry of the rotunda. In the walls at the back of the Pantheon's portico are two huge niches, perhaps intended for statues of Augustus Caesar and Agrippa. The first chapel on the left, is the Chapel of St Joseph in the Holy Land, and is the chapel of the Confraternity of the Virtuosi at the Pantheon. Discover the history of the monuments, itineraries, events and exhibitions related to archeology and cultural heritage in Rome. Originally built as a temple dedicated to the pagan gods of Rome, the Pantheon has been a place of worship for almost two millennia. It was dedicated to 12 gods of heaven and focused on Augustus’ cult and Romans believed that Romulus ascended to heaven from this spot. [30][31] This now-barely legible inscription reads: In 609, the Byzantine emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Boniface IV, who converted it into a Christian church and consecrated it to St. Mary and the Martyrs on 13 May 609: "Another Pope, Boniface, asked the same [Emperor Phocas, in Constantinople] to order that in the old temple called the Pantheon, after the pagan filth was removed, a church should be made, to the holy virgin Mary and all the martyrs, so that the commemoration of the saints would take place henceforth where not gods but demons were formerly worshipped. Each zone of the interior, from floor to ceiling, is subdivided according to a different scheme. Upon passing through the doors at the back of the portico one enters the single inner room or cella of the temple, a circular hall covered by a vast hemispherical dome. His uncertainty strongly suggests that "Pantheon" (or Pantheum) was merely a nickname, not the forma… [21], The form of Agrippa's Pantheon is debated. The bust on the left is a portrait of Baldassare Peruzzi, derived from a plaster portrait by Giovanni Duprè. The term ‘pan’ means all and ‘theon’ means the gods in Greek. BETH HARRIS: The Pantheon originally contained sculptures of the gods, of the deified emperors, we think. It is also substantially larger than earlier domes. RESTITVERVNT). The building is therefore based on the dimensions of a perfect sphere. [44] This substitution was probably a result of logistical difficulties at some stage in the construction. All other extant ancient domes were either designed with tie-rods, chains and banding or have been retrofitted with such devices to prevent collapse. Mary and the Martyrs,” commonly referred to as “Santa Maria Rotonda.” The reason it has been preserved so well is because of this conversion and its continuous use as a result of this. Giuseppe Sacconi participated, but lost – he would later design the tomb of Umberto I in the opposite chapel. [25], The Augustan Pantheon was destroyed along with other buildings in a huge fire in the year 80 AD. Domitian rebuilt the Pantheon, which was burnt again in 110 AD. Four of the aedicules have triangular pediments featuring paler marbles while the other four have curved pediments and deeper colours. The bronze epigram commemorated Pope Clement XI's restoration of the sanctuary. Although the ancient materials were sadly lost the original scheme was reproduced in a small section of the south west wall in the 1930s. The first niche to the right of the entrance holds a Madonna of the Girdle and St Nicholas of Bari (1686) painted by an unknown artist. next to it towards the north, this second square would, 30.40 metres (external) 21.70 metres (internal), Octagonal Hall – Baths of Diocletian – Rome, It was merely restored by Hadrian (emperor from 117 to 138 AD), as stated in the. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft), so the whole interior would fit exactly within a cube (or, a 43.3-m sphere could fit within the interior). "[22], The only passages referring to the decoration of the Agrippan Pantheon written by an eyewitness are in Pliny the Elder's Natural History. Million people Augustus right hand, Agrippa, built the first to cella... ( 1623 to 1644 ) ordered the bronze epigram commemorated Pope Clement XI 's restoration of the dome vary... Of volcanic tuff and broken bricks also held there from time to time uses the word or... 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