The most famous monument from ancient Rome, still in almost perfect condition. Erected by Agrippa in 27 B.C., restored by Domitian after the fire in 80, damaged, and rebuilt again by Hadrian, who gave it its present form. In 609 Pope Boniface IV dedicated it to the Christian faith (Santa Maria ad Martyres); during the Middle Ages it was also used as a fortress in the civil struggles; over the years it was despoiled by various popes, particularly by Pope Urban VII (Barberini) who had the bronze ceiling of the pronaos melted down to make the baldaquin (by Bernini) in St. Peter's and eighty cannons for Castel Sant'Angelo.
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The building consists of a large cylindrical body, preceded by a pronaos of sixteen Egyptian granite columns with Corinthian capitels of more than twelve metres in height. Eight of the columns stand in front and the others are disposed in four rows, so as to form three aisles. The pediment, which was decorated in gilded bronze, bears an inscription with the name of Agrippa, maintained by Emperor Hadrian during his restoration.
The marble portal, with the ancient bronze door intact, leads to the elegant, perfectly circular interior; equal in both diameter and height (43,30 m). On the lower level are seven full-length niches, each with a pair of Corinthian columns and pilasters, altemating with small rectangular niches surmounted by triangu1ar-shaped gables. Above the trabeation, is a high attic with blind windows alternating with square designs. The calotte dome provides the building's crowning touch. A remarkable optical effect is conveyed by the five rows of lacunars each smaller than its predecessor up to the great skylight oculus (9 m in diameter). In the fIrst niche to the right, the Annuciation, fresco attributed to Antoniazzo Romano; in the second, the tomb of Vittorio Emanuele II (d. 1878), and in the niche in the opposite wall, the tomb of Umberto I (d. 1900) and Queen Margherita (d. 1926). In the third niche, Raphaers tomb, who was buried in the Pantheon by his own wish (d. 1520); the statue ofthe Madonna in the niche is the work of Lorenzetto, probably in collaboration with Raffaello da Montelupo. |
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