The Pantheon is one of the main and significant attractions of Rome, having a fairly respectable age of more than two thousand years, and this is the only ancient building of the city that has not turned into ruins and has been preserved in its more or less original form from ancient times.
The first building of the Pantheon was built back in 27 BC by the consul Marcus Agrippa, and the name of the building is translated from ancient Greek language means "Temple of All Gods". At that time, inside the building there were statues of the deified Caesar and the most revered Roman gods - Jupiter, Venus, Neptune, Mars, Mercury, Pluto and Saturn, whom the Romans worshiped. During the fire that occurred in 80 AD. uh... the temple was destroyed by fire. It was later restored by Emperor Domitian, but in 110 AD. the temple burned down again.
Around 118-125 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 - “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, elected consul for the third time, erected this” . The second inscription, written in smaller letters, mentions the restoration carried out under Septimius Severus and Caracalla in 202 AD, which did not at all affect the appearance of the temple.
The perfection of the structure suggests that the greatest architect of the time, Apollodorus of Damascus, creator of the Trajan Forum in Rome, took part in its restoration, by the way, later executed by the same Hadrian for his critical statements about the architectural projects of Hadrian himself. A fan of Greek culture, the emperor himself actively worked as an architect, while not forgetting to glorify himself triumphal arches and statues in the temples he built. Not being particularly modest, he installed his statue in the temple of Zeus he completed in Athens, a gilded statue in Epidaurus, and in Rome he erected a giant equestrian monument (according to Dio Cassius, a person could pass through the eye of a horse in it). Hadrian also built for himself vast 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. Angela.
But let's return to the Pantheon and, before continuing its history, briefly about the building itself. The cylindrical building with walls six meters thick, cast from concrete, is crowned by a huge dome with a diameter of 43 meters - the pinnacle of engineering art 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 Florence Cathedral is only 42 m, and even then, it was built with big 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 destruction. Scientists have calculated that the approximate weight of the dome is about five thousand tons. As the height of the vault increases, 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.
The hole, 9 meters in diameter, represents the eye to the sky. This is the only source of light and air in the building. The 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 was discovered that exactly at noon of 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 grille above the doorway, filling the colonnaded courtyard with light. Built on the orders of Hadrian, a great lover of lighting effects, the sun seemed to invite the emperor to enter the Pantheon, confirming his divine status. The sun's rays entering the temple through an opening in the dome also marked the days and hours.
The outer wall of the temple was originally covered with marble, which, alas, has not survived. Some fragments of marble decor can be seen in the British Museum.
The entrance to the Pantheon is decorated with a majestic portico with a triangular pediment, once crowned with a bronze quadriga, which was later lost forever.
The three-row colonnade consists of sixteen Corinthian columns of pink and gray granite spanning one and a half meters, 12 meters high and weighing 60 tons. They were carved in the eastern mountains of Egypt, then rolled 100 km along logs to the Nile, and through Alexandria they were delivered to Ostia, the seaport of Rome. Initially, all the front eight columns of the porch were made of gray marble, and only the inner four were made of pink. In the 17th century, three corner columns collapsed and were 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 over time 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 the 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 its 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 centuries, the Pantheon suffered many times and through the efforts of those in power, a lot of harm was done to it. 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 bell tower in the Romanesque style was added above the portico of the Pantheon, giving the building an awkward appearance. Throughout all the innovations, the sculptures that decorated the façade 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 of Colonna and Orsini. Welcome to the return of the papacy to Rome under the pope Martin V The restoration of the temple and the cleansing of the shacks attached to it began. In 1563, under Pope Pius IV, the bronze door, stolen by the Vandal army during the attack and sack of Rome in 455, was restored.
In the 17th century, by order of Pope Urban VIII Barberini, the bell tower was demolished, and by his order the bronze coverings of the portico were removed, which were used to cast cannons for the Castle of Sant'Angelo and to make screw columns for the canopy in St. Peter's Basilica. This act of vandalism was reflected in a saying invented by the inhabitants of Rome, who played on the pope’s surname: “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 on the edges of the pediment of the Pantheon, was entrusted to Bernini, received the disrespectful name "Bernini's donkey ears." Finally, in 1883, this ridiculous creation was demolished.
Subsequently, the Roman Pantheon became the national mausoleum of Italy. His last refuge was these prominent figures, like the architect Baldasare Peruzzi, the artist Annibale Carracci, kings Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I, as well as great artist Renaissance Rafael Santi.
Tomb of King Umbert I.
It is known that 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 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 the inscription “Here lies Raphael, during whose lifetime great Nature she was afraid of being defeated, and at the moment of his death, of dying herself." Above the tomb is the statue "Madonna of the Rock", commissioned during his lifetime by Raphael himself and executed by Lorenzo Lotto in 1524.
Unlike other Christian churches in Rome with their luxurious facades, the façade of the Pantheon does not prepare the visitor for the beauty of its interior. However, once you walk through the gigantic door, which is about 7.50 meters wide and 12.60 meters high, you are faced with a truly awe-inspiring magnificence.
Interior of the Pantheon in the 18th century, painted by Giovanni Paolo Panini.
The interior decoration has undergone more significant changes - top part The walls were covered with marble inlay, and the floor was paved with multi-colored slabs of marble, porphyry and granite. During the 15th to 17th centuries, false niches and altars were added, decorated with various relics and works of art, the most significant of which is Melozzo da Forli's painting of the Annunciation.
The Pantheon is the “temple of all gods”, the most beautiful of the classical monuments of ancient Roman civilization. Built as a pagan chapel, five centuries later it became a Christian shrine.
The Pantheon building, which can now be found in Rome, was built in the 2nd century, when Emperor Hadrian was in power. This building served as a copy of the temple that once stood here, destroyed by severe fires, first in 80 and later in the 2nd century. Hadrian restored the temple of all the gods and did not want to take credit for the merits of its creator. The founder of the original Pantheon was Marcus Agrippa. In 25 BC. e. he erected a majestic temple building. The Latin inscription at the entrance reads: “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, elected consul for the third time, built this.” A smaller inscription reports the restoration of 202, carried out under Septimius Severus and Caracalla.
Rites and ceremonies were performed in the Pantheon in honor of the most revered Roman gods - Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Neptune, Pluto, Mercury and Saturn. In ancient times, in the center of the building, under an opening in the dome, there was an altar on which animals were burned to be sacrificed to the omnipotent gods.
The form of the monumental temple goes back to the tradition of Italian construction of sanctuaries and huts. This is a massive round structure with a dome that appears almost flat from the outside, but from the inside its height is impressive, it is half the volume of the temple itself. During construction, it was thought that the Pantheon should impress primarily with its interior decoration, so it was distinguished by greater grandeur than its exterior. However, this does not mean that the builders paid insufficient attention to the external decoration of the temple.
The triangle of the pediment of the ceremonial portico at the entrance is supported by 16 gigantic columns. Their round bases and Corinthian capitals are made of Greek marble, and the columns themselves are made of monoliths of red Egyptian granite. The dome of the pantheon is covered with gilded bronze plates. But interesting fact is that there is not a single window in the pantheon. It is only light here during the day, when light penetrates inside through a round hole in the dome. It is very large, with a diameter of 9 meters, so it is more than enough for both lighting and for the release of smoke when parishioners performed rituals with sacrifices.
The sun's rays did not spread completely throughout the room, but as they descended, they created a kind of light column. It seems that you can touch the light here, this pillar is so light. The second version of constructing a hole in the roof vault was symbolic meaning, supposedly it was a kind of window to heaven. During the celebrations, people prayed and looked through the hole into the sky, where, according to ancient beliefs, the gods were located, and the ceiling did not interfere with them at all.
There are legends about the appearance of this hole in the dome. One of them says that during the consecration of the temple, many demons who lived there rushed about in fear, looking for a way out. They hit the walls and ceiling and could not escape. Most strong demon tried to break the roof and punched a hole in the center with his horns.
Film tour of the Pantheon in Rome
Literally on every corner you can come into contact with history. The unique Roman monument - the Pantheon, the blessed “Temple of all the gods” - has become an example of the unsurpassed engineering thought of architects Ancient Rome.
Milestones in the history of the Pantheon
At first, the majestic building on Piazza della Rotonda served as a pagan sanctuary. IN ancient times Here they worshiped the main ancient Roman gods and sacrificed animals. Agrippa, son-in-law of Emperor Augustus, erected the Pantheon in 27 BC. At that time the building was square. A huge fire in 1980 practically destroyed the temple. Under Domitian it was restored, but in 110 it burned down again. The modern Pantheon was built at the beginning of the 2nd century under Emperor Hadrian on the site of the previous one.
Emperor Phocas gave the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV in 608. In 609, the pagan temple was consecrated as a Christian church - in honor of St. Mary and the Martyrs. The remains of the first Christians were transferred here from the Roman catacombs. The consecration took place on November 1.
The Pantheon has remained almost untouched by time. It still looks grandiose and majestic today. Millions of tourists and pilgrims flock to it from all over the planet. Ancient Roman “Temple of All Gods” – Tomb of the great citizens of Italy.
Building architecture
In 118-25 AD (already under Emperor Hadrian ) The Pantheon was rebuilt and reconstructed, adding a rotunda. This part of the building was covered with a hemispherical dome of 43 meters in diameter. The dome was made of brick and concrete. In the center of the vault, the architect provided a hole for lighting - an “oculus”. Into this round opening (9 meters in diameter) daytime a column of light passed through, giving the interior space a special spiritual appearance.
The height of the rotunda together with the dome was also 43 meters. This ratio made the appearance of the building surprisingly proportional. Powerful walls (their thickness is 6 m) reliably supported the heavy domed structure. The entrance portal was framed by a portico with 16 massive columns. The front façade of the building faced Piazza della Rotonda, where a small Egyptian obelisk still stands today.
On the tympanum of the temple there is a solemn inscription in Latin glorifying the name of Marcus Agrippa, who built the first Pantheon.
Inner space
The interior space of the temple amazes first-time visitors with its enormous size. The interior of the Pantheon is in sharp contrast with the emphatically ascetic appearance of the building.
Two thousand people can be accommodated under the dome of the Pantheon at a time. The huge space is not disturbed by supports and other load-bearing elements. The grandiose dome looks like a vault of heaven. The luminous hole in the center is surrounded by concentric rows of square coffered niches, creating the illusion of infinity. Coffered niches facilitate the structure of the dome.
The entire round wall of the rotunda is permeated with voids invisible to the eye. The inner wall is divided into two tiers. In the lower tier, six high niches are symmetrically located, decorated with pilasters and separated from the main room by columns. Between them there are statues in small niches. The upper tier of the wall is separated by an entablature. It contains rows of shallow niches separated by pilasters.
The interior marble decoration of the walls has not been preserved. The bronze sculptural decorations on the tympanum of the portico (which depicted a scene of the battle of the gods with the Titans) were also lost. In the 17th century, at the behest of Pope Urban VIII, the bronze roofing of the portico was removed. It was used to create the canopy in St. Peter's Basilica.
The Roman Pantheon served as a representative example of centric-domed architecture for buildings in the following centuries.
Burial place of great people
The ancient temple also became a tomb. Italian rulers of different times are buried here: Queen Margaret of Savoy, King Victor Emmanuel II, King Umberto I. In a modest niche made of marble, under a laurel wreath, rests genius artist Italy - Rafael Santi from Urbino. During his lifetime, he expressed a desire to be buried in the Pantheon. Great Raphael lived only 37 years.
The name “pantheon” has now become a common noun. This word means a solemn tomb - a mausoleum where worthy sons of the people are buried.
Name: Panthevm (lat.), Πάνθειον Pantheion (ancient Greek), Pantheon (en)
Location: Rome, Italy)
Creation: 2 c. AD (~126 AD)
Architect(s): Apollodorus of Damascus
Customer / Founder: Emperor Hadrian
During the late Roman Empire, architectural techniques were improved and new building structures were developed. Relying on the Greek order system, the Romans were able to find their own expressive forms. The Romans used the structural advantages of the arch, known to Etruscan builders, in the construction of vaults and domes. New types of buildings were erected, their spatial design became more complex, and a standard urban planning system emerged. The practical Romans came up with many engineering devices for mining and production building materials. The Pantheon, the “temple of all the gods,” one of the most impressive buildings remaining from that era, was built using a domed roof and frame structures made of brick and concrete. The Pantheon is also perfectly preserved because in the 7th century the pagan temple was transferred to the Christian church. The dome of the Pantheon is striking - this example of ancient engineering art remained unsurpassed in size until the 19th century.
Temple architecture
- Spherical volume. The height of the dome from the floor is equal to its diameter, that is, the internal space of the temple can accommodate a full sphere - perfect shape, symbolizing the image of the Universe. IN architectural appearance The Pantheon embodied the Romans' ideas about the universe. The dome of the temple represents firmament, illuminated by the main celestial body - the Sun.
- Coffered vault. In caissons - square recesses covering inner surface domes - the lower protrusions are emphasized. This technique creates the illusion of a sky rising solemnly and easily above the viewer’s head.
- Section of the vault. The building is a cylinder covered with a hemispherical dome. At the base the dome shell is much thicker than at the top.
- Concrete. During the construction of the dome, wooden formwork was used. After the concrete hardened, the formwork was removed. The Romans were the first to use concrete in construction. Large monolithic structures capable of spanning wide spans were built from the new material—this is how domes and vaults appeared in Roman architecture. The use of concrete made construction cheaper and faster. Master carpenters made wooden forms (formwork) in the form of boxes, and laborers carried and poured concrete into them. Roman concrete is a mixture of lime and volcanic sand (pozzolana). Added concrete various materials(aggregates) were placed in layers between two masonry walls. Roman concrete structures did not yet have metal reinforcement, so they did little to reduce the thrust created by gravity. In addition, concrete with aggregates became less pliable and difficult to make complex shapes from.
- Hidden arches. Arches, made of brick and hidden in the thickness of the walls, act as internal supports, reducing the pressure of the dome on the walls. When constructing walls, vaults and domes, brickwork was usually used. Sometimes the surface of a brick wall was covered with a layer of plaster. If the building needed to be given a particularly elegant look, the walls were lined with intricate patterns of stone and marble slabs. The plates were secured using bronze brackets and bolts.
- Portico. The wide stone pediment of the portico is supported by 8 columns. The bases and Corinthian capitals of the monolithic columns are made of white marble, and the trunks are made of Egyptian granite. The portico of the Pantheon was part of another, earlier temple. This circumstance became the cause of disagreement in determining the time of construction of the temple. However, supplier marks preserved on the brickwork prove that the construction of the Pantheon was carried out in the first years of the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-38).
- Floor of the Pantheon. The floor of the Pantheon is paved with slabs of marble, porphyry and granite. The pattern formed by squares and circles arranged in a checkerboard pattern echoes the pattern of the caissons.
- Niches. The niches carved into the wall are dedicated to the five planets that the Romans knew about, as well as to the luminaries - the Sun and the Moon.
- Domes over niches. Auxiliary domes placed above the niches reduce the pressure of the main dome, since the vertical load is transferred directly to the foundation, bypassing the walls.
- Round window in the dome. The interior of the temple is effectively illuminated through a round hole with a diameter of 8 meters that crowns the vault. It lightened the weight of the vault in the upper part and eliminated the need to solve technical problems difficult task placement of windows around the perimeter of the dome. The light pouring from above gives the impression of grandeur and solemnity.
- Podium. The Pantheon was erected on a podium, to which 8 steps led. Gradually the ground level around the building rose and it now sits in a shallow depression.
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- Viollet Le Duc "Conversations on Architecture". Volume one. Publishing house of the All-Union Academy of Architecture. Moscow. 1937
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The Pantheon is unique architectural monument. This is one of the few buildings from antiquity that has been completely preserved. Another feature was the largest diameter of the dome among all the structures of world architecture. The Pantheon maintained these positions until the 19th century.
History of creation
The Pantheon is greatest monument centric-dome style in architecture. Its name is translated from Greek as “Temple dedicated to all gods.” It was built in the 2nd century. AD by order of Emperor Hadrian. A temple was previously located on this site, erected by the consul Marcus Agripa. However, by imperial decree, a new building appeared in its place. The reasons for this lie in the fire that almost destroyed this structure. However, the original intention of its creator was immortalized by the fact that an inscription was made on the pediment of the temple, indicating its construction by Marcus Agrippa.
Obviously, under Hadrian there were compelling reasons for rebuilding this colossal structure. His personal biographer mentions that large-scale restoration and restoration work was carried out under Adrian. At the same time, the names of the original creators were preserved. 80 years later, the Pantheon underwent restoration and some minor additions under Emperor Septimius Severus. The marble finish, cladding, as well as some small details were updated.
Design Features
The Pantheon is significantly different from the classic rectangular temples that we can see in Rome and Greece. In its architectural forms there is a clear predominance of centrism, which distinguished the ancient huts and sanctuaries of Rome. The construction of itself reveals itself in all its beauty from the inside.
The rotunda and colossal dome are living proof of the architectural genius of the architects of Rome. The dome is made of solid concrete and only at the base is reinforced with brick inserts. The rotunda is divided into eight niches, which was done to make the structure light. One of the main wonders of the Pantheon is the oculus. A special, bronze-framed porthole, 9 m in diameter, is designed to allow passage sunlight. At noon, a ray of light penetrates at a right angle and looks like a giant pillar. This amazingly beautiful sight still delights visitors. When in Rome, be sure to visit the temple at noon.
The Rotunda of the Pantheon consists of brick at its core, with marble cladding. IN symbolic form, its geometry reflects ideas about the astrological structure of the universe that prevailed in the era of Ancient Rome. The oculus in the center symbolizes the solar disk. It is the only source through which light enters the structure. Temple complex erected on 16 granite columns that belong to the Corinthian order. They are made of granite and their capitals are built of white marble.
Surprisingly, the architects of Ancient Rome achieved significant heights in the selection of materials. The composition of the concrete from which the dome is made is uneven and varies depending on its height. The lower levels are filled with hard travertine chips, while the upper levels are composed of pumice and tuff. The dome rises 22 m above the rotunda. The height of the structure is almost 50 m. The floor, as well as the wall cladding, is made of multi-colored marble, which is why the interior is striking in its luxury.
Interior
The entrance to the building is through colossal bronze gates that reach more than 7 meters in height. Upon entering, the visitor immediately finds himself in a vestibule that connects to the rotunda at the north end. The outer parts of the walls are made either entirely of marble or covered with facing marble. Previously, the dome of the temple was covered with gilded bronze.
Distinctive feature interior decoration The Pantheon is characterized by the integrity, rigor and clarity of composition characteristic of the architecture of Ancient Rome, which is combined with luxury and great attention to small details. Thanks to the transformation in 609 AD. to the Christian Church of St. Mary, it has been preserved in excellent condition.
Pantheon as a cultural element
A distinctive feature of this structure is its excellent preservation. This is one of the few buildings that we have inherited from the times of Ancient Rome, which in our days not only has not been destroyed, but has also preserved in excellent condition even the most smallest elements. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most glorious monuments of this famous era.
Throughout its existence, this colossal structure was the object close attention residents of Rome and tourists. Naturally, he also attracted people of art. During the Renaissance, which is generally characterized by the revival of interest in the ancient heritage, it became an object of admiration for artists, architects and sculptors. Michelangelo called it nothing less than an angelic creation. Raphael dreamed of being buried in this temple. His contemporaries made the dream of a brilliant creator come true. Since then, the Pantheon has become a burial place, the honor of burial in which belonged to great people who left their mark on history.
Raphael, King Umberto I, as well as the first king of the united kingdom, Emmanuel II, were also buried here. In a word, there was no one who would remain indifferent to this, without a doubt, ingenious construction.
Visit to the Pantheon
No matter how surprising it may sound, this greatest attraction can be viewed for free not only from the outside, but also from the inside. Entrance is absolutely free, and it is open to the public every day. Its opening hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. In the morning hours it is observed here smallest number visitors. Therefore, for those who want to get acquainted with the Pantheon in more detail, it is recommended to visit it from 9 am to 11 am without unnecessary fuss.
The place is closed to the public on the first of January and May. These are the only ones holidays when this attraction is not available.