Hello friends!
The highlight of today was a visit to the Pantheon. This structure is Rome's best preserved ancient building. It is very old indeed, but not at all a ruin. "Pan" means "all" and "theos" means "gods" so this was a place where people of all faiths could come to worship. I'm sure it sounds as though much of my blogging so far has been based on religion, but it is a hard subject to avoid in this city! I'm also reminded that thousands of years ago whether living in ancient Egypt, Greece, or Rome, people were focused on a major question: "Where did we come from and why are we here?" Many of us still pause to ask this question of ourselves today. Some believe that religion was formed to help humans to make sense of their existence.
Anyhow, this amazing building called the pantheon was originally dedicated to all the gods and for people of all walks of life and styles of worship. Its defining feature is the dome that sits on top with a perfect circular opening allowing the sun to shine through in what the Roman's believed was the largest column of all time - the column of light from above radiates down at a variety of angles in the chapel according to the time of day...pretty fantastic.
Another thing about the Pantheon that is particularly impressive is the perfection of the dimensions that were achieved without modern day tools or computers. The dome itself is a HUGE engineering feat. The fact that it was designed in a way that would assure it was secure, not too heavy, with no threat to falling in on itself demonstrates the Roman's passion for pushing the limits of design. This dome is the first of its kind and inspired the cathedral dome in Florence (I'll see this in a few days) and the dome at St. Peter's (we saw it yesterday) designed by Michelangelo himself. If you think of the White House, you might imagine how the dome has also influenced architecture in other countries around the world.
The dome is exactly 142 feet tall and 142 feet wide - WOW! The base of the dome is 23 feet thick and made of concrete, but as it rises towards the top, the material used was a lighter volcanic pumice (think Pompeii). Notice the square indentations which also help to lighten the load where the dome reaches what is called THE OCULUS - eye in the sky. This opening is a perfect circle, thirty feet wide. You might ask, what happens when it rains? The Roman's thought of that too. There are small drains scattered along the marble floor to collect the water (see picture below). Also when you walk to the surrounding edges of the Pantheon, you can feel the floor tilt downward for more drainage.
The highlight of today was a visit to the Pantheon. This structure is Rome's best preserved ancient building. It is very old indeed, but not at all a ruin. "Pan" means "all" and "theos" means "gods" so this was a place where people of all faiths could come to worship. I'm sure it sounds as though much of my blogging so far has been based on religion, but it is a hard subject to avoid in this city! I'm also reminded that thousands of years ago whether living in ancient Egypt, Greece, or Rome, people were focused on a major question: "Where did we come from and why are we here?" Many of us still pause to ask this question of ourselves today. Some believe that religion was formed to help humans to make sense of their existence.
Anyhow, this amazing building called the pantheon was originally dedicated to all the gods and for people of all walks of life and styles of worship. Its defining feature is the dome that sits on top with a perfect circular opening allowing the sun to shine through in what the Roman's believed was the largest column of all time - the column of light from above radiates down at a variety of angles in the chapel according to the time of day...pretty fantastic.
Another thing about the Pantheon that is particularly impressive is the perfection of the dimensions that were achieved without modern day tools or computers. The dome itself is a HUGE engineering feat. The fact that it was designed in a way that would assure it was secure, not too heavy, with no threat to falling in on itself demonstrates the Roman's passion for pushing the limits of design. This dome is the first of its kind and inspired the cathedral dome in Florence (I'll see this in a few days) and the dome at St. Peter's (we saw it yesterday) designed by Michelangelo himself. If you think of the White House, you might imagine how the dome has also influenced architecture in other countries around the world.
The dome is exactly 142 feet tall and 142 feet wide - WOW! The base of the dome is 23 feet thick and made of concrete, but as it rises towards the top, the material used was a lighter volcanic pumice (think Pompeii). Notice the square indentations which also help to lighten the load where the dome reaches what is called THE OCULUS - eye in the sky. This opening is a perfect circle, thirty feet wide. You might ask, what happens when it rains? The Roman's thought of that too. There are small drains scattered along the marble floor to collect the water (see picture below). Also when you walk to the surrounding edges of the Pantheon, you can feel the floor tilt downward for more drainage.
After the fall of Rome, the Pantheon became a Christian church - no longer a place to worship a multitude of gods. It remains an example of the Roman's architectural and engineering genius and a functioning church today with regular services.
We are off to the Appian Way and the catacombs.
More later!!!!
Mrs. B.
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