Encyclopedia
The
Pantheon is a building in
Rome which was originally built as a
temple to the seven
deities of the seven
planets in the state religion of
Ancient Rome, but which has been a Christian church since the
7th century. It is the best-preserved of all Roman buildings and the oldest important building in the world with its original roof intact. It has been in continuous use throughout its history. Although the identity of the Pantheon's primary architect remains uncertain, it is largely assigned to Apollodorus of Damascus.
History
Ancient
The original Pantheon was built in 27 BC-25 BC under the
Roman Empire, during the third consulship of
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and his name is inscribed on the
portico of the building. The inscription reads
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIUM·FECIT, "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, during his third consulate, built this". It was originally built with adjoining
baths and water gardens.
Agrippa's Pantheon was destroyed along with other buildings in a fire in 80, and the current building dates from about 125, during the reign of the Emperor
Hadrian, as date-stamps on the bricks reveal. It was totally reconstructed, with the text of the original inscription added to the new
facade, a common practice in Hadrian's rebuilding projects all over Rome. Hadrian was a cosmopolitan emperor who traveled widely in the east and was a great admirer of Greek culture. He seems to have intended the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods, to be a kind of
ecumenical or syncretist gesture to the subjects of the
Roman Empire who did not worship the old gods of Rome, or who worshipped them under other names.
The building was later repaired by
Septimius Severus and
Caracalla in 202, for which there is another, smaller inscription.
Medieval
In 609 the
Byzantine emperor Phocas gave the building to
Pope Boniface IV, who reconsecrated it as a Christian church, the Church of
Mary and all the
Martyr Saints , which title it retains.age:oculus1.jpg|thumb|200px|The
coffers for the
concrete dome were poured in molds, probably on the temporary scaffolding; the
oculus admits the only light .]]
The building's consecration as a church saved it from the abandonment and spoliation which befell the majority of ancient Rome's buildings during the early
mediaeval period. Paul the Deacon records the spoliation of the building by the Emperor
Constans II, who visited Rome in July 663:
Much fine external marble has been removed in the course of the centuries, and there are capitals from some of the
pilasters in the
British Museum. The only other loss has been the external sculptures, which adorned the pediment above Agrippa's inscription. The
marble interior and the great
bronze doors have survived, although the latter have been restored.
Renaissance
Since the
Renaissance the Pantheon has been used as a
tomb. Among those buried there are the
painters
Raphael and
Annibale Caracci, the
architect Baldassare Peruzzi. In the
15th century, the Pantheon was adorned with paintings: the best-known is the "Annunciazione" by
Melozzo da Forlì.
During the reign of
Pope Urban VIII , the Pope ordered the bronze ceiling of the Pantheon's portico melted down. Most of the bronze was used to make bombards for the fortification of
Castel Sant'Angelo, with the remaining amount used by the Apostolic Camera for various other works. This led to the
Latin proverb,
Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini .
Modern
Also buried there are two kings of
Italy:
Vittorio Emanuele II and
Umberto I, as well as Umberto's Queen, Margherita. Although Italy has been a republic since 1946, volunteer members of Italian monarchist organisations maintain a vigil over the royal tombs in the Pantheon. This has aroused protests from time to time from republicans, but the Catholic authorities allow the practice to continue, although the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage is in charge of the security and maintenance.
The Pantheon is still a church and
masses are still celebrated in the church, particularly on important Catholic days of obligation, and for weddings.
Structure
The building is circular with a
portico of three ranks of huge granite
Corinthian columns under a
pediment opening into the rotunda, under a coffered,
concrete dome, with a central opening , the Great Eye, open to the sky. A rectangular structure links the portico with the rotunda.
In the walls at the back of the portico were niches, probably for statues of
Caesar, Augustus and
Agrippa, or for the
Capitoline Triad, or another set of gods. The large
bronze doors to the
cella, once plated with
gold, still remain, but the gold has long since vanished. The pediment was decorated with a sculpture in bronze showing the Battle of the Titans - holes may still be seen where the clamps which held the sculpture in place were fixed.
The 4,535 metric ton weight of the dome is concentrated on a ring of
voussoirs 9.1 metres in diameter which form the oculus while the downward thrust of the dome is carried by eight
barrel vaults in the 6.4 metre thick drum wall into 8 piers. The thickness of the dome varies from 6.4 metres at the base of the dome to 1.2 metres around the oculus. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres , so the whole interior would fit exactly within a cube .age:DesgodetzPantheon.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Antoine Desgodetz' elevation of the Pantheon in
Les edifices antiques de Rome, Paris, 1779: engravings served designers who never travelled to Rome.]]
The interior of the roof was probably intended to symbolize the arched vault of the heavens.interior features sunken panels , which originally contained bronze star ornaments. This coffering was not only decorative, but also reduced the weight of the roof, as did the elimination of the apex by means of the Great Eye. The top of the rotunda wall features a series of brick-relieving arches, visible on the outside and built into the mass of the brickwork. The Pantheon is full of such devices - for example, there are relieving arches over the recesses inside - but all these arches were, of course, originally hidden by
marble facing.ay well be noted that the proportions of the building are in discord with respect to the classical ideal. Most evident is the rather large pediment, which appears far too "heavy" for the columns supporting it. The reason for this was the expectation that the building would be much taller than it actually is, which would affect larger columns. However, by the time the pediment was built, it was realised that the supply of imported stone for the columns were not enough to build to its anticipated height and thus the builders had to settle with a building that is somewhat out of proportion.
The composition of the Roman
concrete used in the dome remains a mystery. An unreinforced dome in these proportions made of modern concrete would hardly stand the load of its own weight, since concrete has very low
tensile strength, yet the Pantheon has stood for centuries. It is known from Roman sources that their concrete is made up of a pasty hydrate
lime; pozzolanic ash and lightweight
pumice from a nearby volcano; and fist-sized pieces of rock. In this, it is very similar to modern concrete.he best-preserved example of monumental Roman architecture, the Pantheon was enormously influential on European and American architects from the Renaissance to the
19th century such as the
Rotunda of Mosta Numerous
city halls,
universities and
public libraries echo its portico-and-dome structure. Examples of notable buildings influenced by the Pantheon include
British Museum Reading Room,
Thomas Jefferson's Rotunda at the
University of Virginia, Low Library at
Columbia University,
New York, and the
State Library of Victoria in
Melbourne,
Australia. Some changes have been made in the interior decoration, however.
See also
References
External links
- , Virtual Panorama and photo gallery
- , article in Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome
- , excerpt from Rodolpho Lanciani's The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome Edition MDCCCXCVII
- , Virtual Reality image of the Pantheon at Night
- Bibliography, Sections, Laser Scanning Data
- , Virtual Tour with map and compass effect by Tolomeus
