The Pantheon

The Pantheon is Rome's only architecturally intact monument from classical times, this is the glory of Rome. Built in 27 B.C. by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa ( Octavian's architect and nephew) it was dedicated to the gods of the Julian family. Destroyed by a fire in 80 A.D., it was completely redesigned by Hadrian. Other restorations were done under Septimius Severus and his son Caracalla in the 3rd century.

The Pantheon is a perfect place to start a personal tour of Rome, because from there you can figure out how the architecture of ancient Rome was.

This rotunda deserves more than 15 minutes to be understood as marvel of ancient times and no city tour of Rome will be enough to describe it in its complexity.

On March 16, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV, with the permission of the Emperor Phocas, changed the pagan temple into a Christian church, bringing the bones of many Christians from the Catacombs and dedicating it to "St.Mary of the Martyrs", thus ensuring the preservation of the building to our times.

The ceiling of the portico was covered in bronze, but the precious material (almost 450.000 pounds) was taken down by Pope Urban VIII Barberini (1623-1644), and used by Gianlorenzo Bernini for the Baldacchino (canopy) in St.Peter Basilica and for other works. In 1929 the church, as a result of the Lateran Treaty, assumed the title of the "Basilica Palatina", or more properly the national church of all Italians.

Around the internal perimeter are seven niches: in the niche opposite to the entrance was once a statue to Mars Ultor, who had punished the murderers of Julius Caesar. In the others were statues of Mars and Romulus, Aeneas, Julius Ascanius and of Julius Caesar. Other gods and heroes were in the intermediate spaces.

We can see today in the seven internal chapels the tombs of many great painters and architects (like Raphael) and of he Savoy family (Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy).

The round tour of the interior of the Pantheon is astonishing and gives you the idea of a perfect circular building as it was conceived by its emperor at that time.