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Piazza della Rotunda
Tel. 06-6830 0230
Bus: 116
Open: 8:30am- 7:30pm Mon- Sat
9am- 6pm Sun
Closed: Jan 1, May 1, Dec 25
The Pantheon (in ancient Greek: Πάνθεων, "[temple] of all the
gods"), Pantheum in classical Latin, is a building of ancient Rome
located in the Pigna district in the historic center, built as a
temple dedicated to all the past deities, present and future. It was
founded in 27 BC. from the harpinate Marco Vipsanio Agrippa,
son-in-law of Augustus. Agrippa dedicated it to the goddess Cybele
and to all the gods. It was rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian
presumably from 112-115 until 124 AD. approximately, after the fires
of 80 and 110 AD they had damaged the previous construction of the
Augustan age.
It is composed of a circular structure joined
to a pronaos in Corinthian columns (eight at the front and two
groups of four in the second and third row) that support a pediment.
The large circular cell, known as the rotunda, is surrounded by
thick masonry walls and eight large pillars on which the weight of
the characteristic hemispherical dome in concrete is distributed,
which houses at its apex a circular opening called oculus, which
allows the illumination of the internal environment. The height of
the building calculated at the oculus is equal to the diameter of
the rotunda, a feature that reflects the classical criteria of
balanced and harmonious architecture. Almost two millennia after its
construction, the intrados dome of the Pantheon is still today one
of the largest domes in the world, and specifically the largest
built in Roman concrete.
At the beginning of the 7th century,
the Pantheon was donated by Emperor Phocas to Pope Boniface IV and
was converted into a Christian basilica called Santa Maria della
Rotonda or Santa Maria ad Martyres, which allowed it to survive
almost intact the looting inflicted by the popes on the buildings of
classical Rome. It enjoys the rank of minor basilica and is the only
basilica in Rome besides the patriarchal ones to still have a
chapter. The inhabitants of Rome popularly called it la Rotonna ("la
Rotonda"), from which the name of the square and the street in front
of it also derive.
Currently owned by the Italian State,
since December 2014 the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and
Activities has managed it through the Lazio Museum Complex, and
since December 2019 through the State Museums Direction of Rome. In
2019 it registered 8 955 569 visitors, making it the most visited
Italian state museum site.
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The word Pantheon is in effect a Greek loan that the Italian language
has kept through Latin: in Greek τό πάνθειον is a noun adjective
indicating "the totality of the gods" and, in most cases, it implies the
noun ἱερόν (" temple"). Therefore, from the Greek τό Πάνθειον (ἱερόν)
("The temple of all the gods") comes the Latin cast Pantheon, used by
Pliny the Elder, who gave the word to the Italian language.
Cassius Dio, a Roman senator who wrote in Greek, hypothesized that the
name derives from the numerous statues of gods placed along the walls of
the building or from the similarity of the dome to the celestial vault.
His uncertainty suggests that the name Pantheon (or Pantheum) was just a
nickname, not the official name of the building.
Indeed, the
concept that there could be a temple dedicated to all the gods is
debatable. The only "pantheon" actually recorded by the sources before
that of Agrippa was in Antioch in Syria, although it was mentioned only
by a source of the sixth century AD.
Ziegler tried to collect
evidence regarding the existence of panthea, but his list consists only
of simple dedications such as "to all the gods" or "the twelve gods",
which are not necessarily citations of actual temples where the worship
of all gods.
The first Pantheon was built in 27-25 BC. by Marco Vipsanio Agrippa,
friend and son-in-law of Augustus, as part of the monumentalization of
the Campo Marzio, entrusting its construction to Lucio Cocceio Aucto. In
fact, it stood between the Saepta Iulia and the basilica of Neptune,
built at the expense of Agrippa himself on an area owned by him, in
which the baths of Agrippa, the basilica of Neptune and the Pantheon
itself were aligned from south to north. .
It seems likely that
both the Pantheon and the basilica of Neptune were Agrippa's private
sacra (private buildings for sacred use) and not aedes publicae (temples
for public use). This less solemn function could help explain why the
memory of the original name and its function were so quickly and easily
lost (Ziolkowski speculates that it was originally the temple of Mars in
Campus Martius).
The original dedication inscription of the
building, reported on the subsequent reconstruction of the Hadrian
period, reads: M AGRIPPA L F COS TERTIVM FECIT, that is:
"It was
built by Marco Agrippa, son of Lucio, consul for the third time"
"Marcus Agrippa, Lucii filius, consul tertium fecit"
The third
consulate of Agrippa dates back to the year 27 BC. However Cassius Dio
lists it with the basilica of Neptune and the Laconian Gymnasium among
the works of Agrippa completed in 25 BC.
From the remains found
about 2.50 meters below the building at the end of the 19th century, it
is known that this first temple was rectangular in plan (43.76 × 19.82
meters) with a transversely arranged cell, wider than long (as the
temple of Concordia in the Roman Forum and the small temple of Veiove on
the Campidoglio), built in blocks of travertine covered with marble
slabs. The building faced south, in the opposite direction to Hadrian's
reconstruction, preceded by a pronaos on the long side measuring 21.26
meters in width. In front of it there was a circular uncovered area, a
sort of square that separated the temple from the basilica of Neptune,
enclosed by a wall in reticulated work and with a floor in travertine
slabs. On top of these slabs, others of marble were then laid, perhaps
during the Domitian restoration.
However, Agrippa's building had
the central axis that coincided with that of the more recent building
and the width of the cell was equal to the internal diameter of the
rotunda. The entire depth of the Augustan building also coincides with
the depth of the Hadrianic pronaos.
The only source that
describes what the decorations of Agrippa's Pantheon were is Pliny the
Elder, who saw it in person. In fact, in his Naturalis Historia he
reports that the capitals were made of Syracusan bronze and that the
decoration included caryatids and pedimental statues. The caryatids,
placed on the columns of the temple, were sculpted by the neo-attic
artist Diogenes of Athens.
The temple overlooked a square (now
occupied by the Hadrianic rotunda) limited on the opposite side by the
basilica of Neptune.
Cassio Dione Cocceiano states that the
"Pantheon" had this name perhaps because it housed the statues of many
divinities or more likely because the dome of the building recalled the
celestial vault (and therefore the seven planetary divinities), and that
Agrippa's intention was that of creating a dynastic place of worship,
dedicated to the protector gods of the gens Iulia (Mars and Venus), and
where a statue of Octavian Augustus was placed, from which the building
would have derived its name. Since the emperor was opposed to both,
Agrippa had a statue of the Divine Julius (i.e. of the deified Caesar)
placed inside and, outside, in the pronaos, one of Octavian and one of
himself, in celebration of their friendship. and their zeal for the
public good.
Destroyed by fire in 80, it was restored under
Domitian, but suffered a second destruction in 110 AD. under Trajan due
to lightning.
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There is the (erroneous) opinion that under Hadrian the building was
entirely rebuilt [26] between 112-115 and 124, while a previous
hypothesis placed the reconstruction between 118 and 128. It can be
hypothesized that the temple was it was dedicated by the emperor
during his stay in the capital between 125 and 127.
The brick
stamps (annual trademarks on bricks) belong to the years 115-127.
But only as slight corrections in the upper part of the walls. Most
(98%) of the brick stamps belong to the years 30-15 BC. and
therefore Adriano did not rebuild but only made small adjustments.
Here are the other versions about the rebuilding of the Pantheon,
always wrong. According to some, the project, drawn up immediately
after the destruction of the previous building in the Trajan era,
would be attributable to the architect Apollodorus of Damascus. It
is also possible, according to considerations on the irregularities
and peculiarities of the construction, that the construction was
begun under Trajan, resumed on his death by Hadrian, interrupted for
some time, then completed with some changes to the initial project,
in particular related to the reduction of the height of the columns
of the pronaos from 50 to 40 feet.
The building consists of a
pronaos connected to a large round cell by means of an intermediate
rectangular structure. Compared to the previous building, the
orientation was reversed, facing north. The large pronaos and the
connecting structure with the cell (forepart) occupied the entire
space of the previous temple, while the rotunda was built almost
making it coincide with the fenced circular Augustan square that
divided the Pantheon from the basilica of Neptune. The temple was
preceded by a square with arcades on three sides and paved with
travertine slabs.
The rotunda was erected on a sturdy
foundation formed by a concrete ring 7.3 m thick and 4.5 m deep.
Chronologically, first the circular cell was built, then the
forepart and, finally, the pronaos.
The pronaos
The
octastyle pronaos (16 columns, 8 gray granite columns from the
island of Elba and 8 pink granite columns from the Mons Claudianus
quarry in Egypt), measures 34.20 × 15.62 m and was raised by 1, 32 m
above the level of the square which was accessed by means of five
steps. The total height of the order is 14.15 m and the stems have a
diameter of 1.48 m at the base.
On the façade the frieze
bears the inscription of Agrippa in bronze letters, while a second
inscription, in smaller characters, relating to a modest restoration
carried out in 202 AD. by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, it was
engraved on the architrave under the first one. The pediment must
have been decorated with bronze figures, fixed on the bottom with
pins whose seats are visible in the marble of the pediment.
Inside, four rows of two columns (placed in correspondence with the
first, third, sixth and eighth columns of the first row) divide the
space into three naves: the larger central one leads to the large
access door of the cell, while the two lateral ones they end in
large niches that were supposed to house the statues of Augustus and
Agrippa transferred here from the Augustan building.
The
shafts of the columns were in gray granite (eight on the façade) or
pink (eight, distributed in the two rows behind them), coming from
the Egyptian quarries of Aswan, and the shafts of the arcades of the
square were also in gray granite, although of smaller dimensions.
The Corinthian capitals, the bases and the elements of the
entablature were in Pentelic white marble, coming from Greece. The
last column on the eastern side of the pronaos, already missing from
the 15th century, was replaced by a gray granite shaft under Pope
Alexander VII and the column at the eastern end of the façade was
also replaced under Pope Urban VIII with a red granite shaft. : the
original alternation of colors in the columns has therefore been
altered over time. The new columns both came from the Neronian
Baths.
The tympanum (which is not calibrated according to the
Greek canonical proportion) has become smooth due to the loss of the
bronze decoration, of which, however, the holes for the supports
that supported it can still be seen. From the position of the
remaining holes, it is believed that the decoration may have
represented an eagle with a crown.
The double sloping roof is
supported by wooden trusses, supported by block walls with arches
resting on the rows of internal columns. The bronze roof of the
wooden truss of the pronaos was removed in 1625 (or in 1632) under
Pope Urban VIII for the construction of 80 cannons of Castel
Sant'Angelo and perhaps in a minimal part for the construction of
the Baldacchino di San Pietro, the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini: for
this "recycling" the famous pasquinata "Quod non fecerunt barbari,
fecerunt Barberini" was written.
The pronaos is paved with colored marble slabs which are arranged
according to a geometric pattern of circles and squares. The sides
of the pronaos are also covered in marble.
The forepart
The intermediate structure that connects the pronaos to the cell is
a brickwork forepart (bricks), consisting of two massive pillars
that lean against the rotunda, connected by a vault that continued
seamlessly with the original suspended bronze vault of the central
part of the pronaos. Access stairs to the upper part of the rotunda
are inserted in the pillars. The wall is covered with Pentelic
marble slabs and decorated on the outside and on the sides of the
cell door by an order of pilasters that continue the order of the
pronaos. Between the pilasters there are decorative panels with
garlands, priestly symbols and sacrificial instruments.
On
the outside, the structure has the same height as the cylinder of
the rotunda and, like this one, must have had a stucco and plaster
coating, which later disappeared.
On the façade a brick
pediment repeats that of the pronaos at a greater height, and
relates to the divisions of the string course cornices on the
rotunda, which continue seamlessly on the outer walls of the
rectangular structure above the order of pilasters. The pediment,
hidden by the pronaos, however, had to be visible only from a great
distance.
The difference in level between the two pediments
has led to the hypothesis that the pronaos of the building was
originally planned to be larger, with column shafts of 50 feet
(14.80 m) instead of 40 feet (11.84 m) , but that the Egyptian
granite quarries, already exploited for the shafts of the monumental
northern entrance of the Trajan's Forum, were not able to provide
other monolithic shafts of such exceptional dimensions and that the
project therefore had to be reduced and modified.
The bronze
door, the oldest and most impressive of those still in use in Rome,
measures 4.45m wide by 7.53m high.
The outside of the
roundabout
The outside of the rotunda hides the dome for a third,
building a cylindrical body which is nothing more than the vertical
continuation of the drum. Between the dome and the external wall is
thus enclosed a large cavity where a double system of windowed rooms
has been obtained, organized on an annular corridor, which also has
the function of lightening the weight of the vaults.
The
external body of the rotunda, excluding the dome, was not visible in
ancient times, as it was hidden by the presence of other adjoining
buildings; for this reason it has no particular decorations, apart
from three cornices with shelves at different heights: in
correspondence with the entablature of the first internal order,
along the line of the dome and on the crown.
Each of these
three bands also correspond to different materials used in the
building, which are gradually lighter; in more detail, from bottom
to top, the following were used:
Band I: layers of concrete
alternating with travertine and tuff flakes;
Band II: layers of
concrete alternating with tuff and brick flakes;
III band: layers
of concrete with only brick flakes.
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The interior of the rotunda
"I wanted this sanctuary of all gods
to represent the terrestrial globe and the celestial sphere, a globe
within which the seeds of eternal fire are contained, all contained
in the hollow sphere"
(Marguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian)
The internal space of the round cell consists of a cylinder
covered by a hemisphere. The cylinder has a height equal to the
radius (21.72 m) and the total height of the interior is equal to
the diameter (43.44 m; 43.30 m).
On the lower level there are
six large stylistic niches (ie with two columns on the front), with
an alternately rectangular (actually trapezoidal) and semicircular
plan, plus the entrance niche and the apse. This first level is
framed by an architectural order with columns at the opening of the
niches and pilasters in the intermediate sections of the wall, which
support a continuous entablature. Only the apse opposite the
entrance is flanked by two columns protruding from the wall. The
continuous entablature of the body of the rotunda continues in the
apse; on it stands the apsidal basin with a semi-dome.
Between the pilasters, in the spaces between the niches, there are
eight small aedicules on a high base, with alternately triangular
and curvilinear pediments. The walls are covered with colored marble
slabs.
The upper order, in opus sectile, had an order of
porphyry pilasters framing windows and a cladding in colored marble
slabs. The windows overlook the first internal lightening annular
corridor. The original Roman decoration of this band was replaced by
the architect Paolo Posi in 1747 on the recommendation of Pope
Benedict XIV. In the south-western sector a part of the original
Roman aspect of this level was restored in the thirties of the
twentieth century, but in a not entirely precise way.
The
floor of the rotunda is not the original one, because it was redone
in 1873, but the effect is that of the Hadrian period, it is
slightly convex towards the sides, with the highest part (shifted
about 2 meters to the north-west from the center) raised by about 30
cm, while it is concave in the center to ensure that the rain that
falls inside the temple through the oculus placed on the top of the
dome, flows towards the 22 drainage holes located in the center of
the rotunda. There are some legends according to which rain does not
enter the oculus, due to a system of air currents, but they are
obviously false.
The floor covering is in slabs with a
pattern of squares in which smaller circles or squares are
alternately inscribed. The materials used are porphyry, antique
yellow, granite and pavonazzetto.
The dome
The dome, with
a diameter of 43.44 m (43.30 m according to Cinti & al. And
Coarelli), and weighing more than 5,000 tons, is the archetype of
the domes built in the following centuries in Europe and in the
Mediterranean, both in Christian churches and in Muslim mosques. As
for the diameter, today, if we do not consider the roof of the CNIT
(Center des nouvelles industries et technologies) in Paris as a dome
(in reality it is a cross vault), the dome of the Pantheon is still
the largest dome. to the world, surpassing both the dome of San
Pietro (diameter 42.52 m) and the dome of Brunelleschi in Florence
(minor diagonal 41.47 m) and the dome of Santa Sofia in
Constantinople (greater diameter 31.24 m). Among the concrete domes,
that of the Pantheon is still unsurpassed in diameter.
Inside
it is decorated with five orders of twenty-eight drawers;
twenty-eight was a number that the ancients considered perfect,
since it is obtained from the sum 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 and that
seven is a number that indicates perfection, since seven planets are
visible to the naked eye. The caissons are of decreasing size
proceeding upwards, and are absent in the wide smooth band near the
zenith oculus, which measures 9 m in diameter. The oculus, which
gives light to the dome, is surrounded by a frame of bronze-banded
tiles fixed to the dome, which perhaps continued internally up to
the highest row of caissons. A Roman tradition has it that rain does
not penetrate into the Pantheon due to the so-called "chimney
effect": in reality it is a legend linked to the past, when the
myriad of candles that were lit in the church produced a current of
hot air that rose towards the high and that meeting with the rain
nebulized it, thus canceling the perception of the entry of water.
The realization was made possible thanks to a series of expedients
that contribute to the lightening of the structure: from the use of
drawers to the use of increasingly lighter materials towards the
top. In the layer closest to the cylindrical drum there are layers
of concrete with brick flakes, climbing up there is concrete with
tuff flakes, while in the upper part, near the oculus, there is
concrete mixed with volcanic lapilli. The dome was built in a single
cast on a huge wooden rib.
On the outside, the dome is hidden
below by an elevation of the rotunda wall, and is therefore divided
into seven superimposed rings, the lower of which still retains the
marble slab cladding. The remainder was covered with gilt bronze
tiles, removed by the Byzantine Emperor Constant II in 655, with the
exception of those surrounding the oculus, still in situ. In the 8th
century Pope Gregory III restored the roof with lead plates.
Restoration work on the roof was then carried out by the popes
Niccolò V and Gregorio XVI. The thickness of the masonry tapers
upwards (from 5.90 m below to 1.50 m in correspondence with the part
around the central oculus).
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To resist all types of thrust, the internal structure of the central
construction (round and dome) must simultaneously compensate for the
vertical thrust at the top of the vault and the forces that are
discharged at the base of the dome. The Roman builders solved these
problems mainly in two ways: the search for the most suitable materials
and the control of the orientation of the thrusts.
The choice of
construction materials
The massive use of concrete (opus
caementicium) cast between brick faces (opus latericium), makes the
building a coherent block whose rigidity ensures good resistance to
deformation forces. Depending on the elevation of the building, the
concrete used includes a different granular aggregate, suitable for
strength or lightness requirements.
Starting from the bottom,
there are five different types of concrete: the wall of the rotunda, up
to the first external frame, is made up of concrete in which tuff and
travertine flakes are visible; between the first and second frame, the
concrete is composed of tuff and bricks. The wall above the second
cornice and the first ring of the dome is made of concrete with crushed
bricks, while the second ring of the dome is constructed of concrete
containing tuff and crushed bricks. The dome cap was made with great
care, as it was built with concrete containing granular pumice and tuff,
with progressively decreasing thickness, from 5.90 m at the base up to
only 1.5 m at the level of the oculus, covered then with a 15 cm layer
of sealant coating.
The mortar of Roman concrete is a mixture of
sand and lime. Over time, it tends to calcify more and more, which
ensures an excellent seal over the centuries.
The reorientation
of the thrusts
The static thrusts are manifold: the base of the dome
(4 in the figure on the side) tends to push the wall that supports it
outwards. This cylinder is not full, but hollowed out by the 7 exedras
(3 in the figure on the side) and by the entrance and also by the empty
sections of the upper level. The weight of the dome is thus supported by
the eight massive masonry pillars that separate these empty spaces.
It was therefore necessary both to compensate for the centrifugal
thrusts and to orient the vertical thrusts on the eight pillars. To
achieve these results, the manufacturers adopted multiple solutions:
the external wall (1 in the figure on the side) exceeds the foot of the
dome by 8.40 m (5 in the figure on the side) and acts as a buttress;
at the base of the dome there is a series of seven concrete rings
arranged in steps (6 in the figure on the side), visible from the
outside, which increase the vertical thrust component compared to the
horizontal centrifugal one;
the thickness of the rotunda includes
large bipedal unloading arches (square bricks with two feet on each
side), which direct the thrust on the pillars of the rotunda; other
brick arches included in the rotunda wall, but visible from the outside
following the disappearance of the plaster, redirect the thrusts towards
the pillars;
The bearing part of the cylindrical wall is reinforced
by a series of small radial arches between the upper levels of the inner
wall and the outer wall.
The characteristics of the architecture
The construction of the Pantheon was an engineering masterpiece, where
the architectural idea was perfectly interpreted with an empirical
technical approach (the subsidence and cracks that occurred immediately
after construction were promptly remedied). The perfectly spherical
spatiality gives the observer a feeling of extraordinary harmony,
"motionless and enveloping", thanks also to the balanced relationships
between the various members, with articulated effects of light and
shadow in the coffers, niches and aedicules.
The insertion of a
large round room behind the pronaos of a classical temple is
unprecedented in the ancient world, at least judging from the
architecture that has come down to us or that we know from literary
sources. There is perhaps a precedent in Rome of a circular building
with a pronaos, dating back to the late Republican era, albeit on an
extremely modest scale: the temple B of Largo di Torre Argentina. The
merger between a classicist model (the colonnaded pronaos) and a
building with a new, typically Roman spatiality (the rotunda), was a
sort of compromise between the spatiality of Greek architecture
(attentive essentially to the exterior of the buildings) and that of
Roman architecture (centered on interior spaces). This aroused various
criticisms, but it was "an obvious tribute to the dominant classicism of
the culture of Rome", which persisted in the following centuries as
well.
The model of the circular space covered with a hemispherical dome
ending at the top with an oculus (circular opening) was already applied
in a type of thermal room called laconicum, such as in the great
imperial thermal rooms of Baia (the so-called "temple of Mercury "it was
a circular room of 21.55 m in diameter built between the first century
BC and the first century AD, covered by a hemispherical vault made for
the first time in concrete, used as a pool for therapeutic diving) and
Rome, or in a circular caenatio , as was the main hall of the central
body of the Domus Aurea. However, the use of this type of roof for a
Templar building was a novelty.
The surprise effect in crossing
the cell door must have been remarkable and seems to be characteristic
of the architecture of the Hadrianic period, also found in many parts of
his private villa in Tivoli.
A further novelty was the
introduction of smooth monolithic shafts of colored marble for the
columns of a temple, in place of the traditional fluted shafts in white
marble.
The next story
Sources inform us of a restoration
under Antoninus Pius, while the inscription engraved on the entablature
of the front recalls other restorations under Septimius Severus (in
202), mostly of marginal significance.
The building was saved
from the destructions of the early Middle Ages because as early as 608
the Byzantine emperor Phocas had donated it to Pope Boniface IV
(608-615), who transformed it in 609 into a Christian church with the
name of Sancta Maria ad Martyres, consecrating it with a solemn
procession of clergy and people. The title comes from the relics of
anonymous Christian martyrs that were translated from the catacombs into
the Pantheon's basement.
«This marvelous temple, according to common
sentiment, [...] Panteon said to itself, because it was dedicated to all
the Gods imagined by the Gentiles. In the upper part […] the statues of
the celestial Gods were placed, and in the lower part the terrestrial
ones, being in the middle that of Cybele; it is in the lower part, which
is now covered by the floor, the statues of the penates were
distributed. […] Bonifazio IV. to erase that nonsense, and filthy
superstitions, the an. 607. purging him of every Gentile falsehood,
consecrating to the true God in honor of the ss. Virgin, and of all the
holy martyrs; therefore he had 18 carts of ss bones transported from
various cemeteries. Martyrs, and had them placed under the high altar;
hence it was said s. Maria ad Martyres "
(Giuseppe Vasi,
Educational itinerary to rediscover the ancient and modern magnificence
of Rome, 1763)
It was the first case of a pagan temple transposed
to Christian worship. This fact makes it the only building in ancient
Rome to have remained practically intact and continuously in use for
religious purposes since its foundation.
The gilded bronze tiles
that covered the dome on the outside were removed by order of Constant
II, emperor of the East in 663 and replaced with a lead covering in 735.
After the year 1000 the church took the name of Santa Maria Rotunda ,
from which the name of the square in front derives. Pope Eugene IV
(1431-1447) had it restored, also freeing it from the shops that had
been built around it over the years.
The bronze of the Pantheon
«The apse is in the collected mystery
A reddish shade
occupies the
space. At the bottom, the metal shines, huge.
The four columns rise
glittering in the shadows
that in the pagan bronze twisted Bernini in
coils ».
In August 1625 the news spread among the Romans that
Pope Urban VIII Barberini decided to cast the bronze joints of the beams
of the Pantheon to make cannons for Castel Sant'Angelo.
"But the
People, who curiously went to see such a work being undone, and could
not help but feel sorry, and regret that such a beautiful and truly
eternal antiquity, was now undone"
Particularly indignant was the
Roman bourgeoisie who saw in the action of the pope an overwhelming of
traditional law which entrusted the custody of the ancient Roman
monuments directly to the people who, feeling diminished in their
dignity, thus appealed to the pope because "to many good and pious
people I deeply regret that that most holy temple ... Your Beatitude has
ruined and un-embellished to convert those metals into artillery.
Conciossiacosaché the riches of the Church did not begin with those
metals, nor the authority of the popes with the force of arms and
artillery ». Carlo Maderno was appointed director of the deprecated
works on the Pantheon, which lasted until 1632, with assistant Francesco
Castelli who will take the nickname of Borromini.
Thus began to
circulate in those days a pasquinata, which remained famous for its
icastic laconicity, attributed to Carlo Castelli or even to the Pope's
doctor Giulio Mancini, known as a passionate lover of classical art:
"What the barbarians did not do, the Barberini did"
"Quod non
fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini"
Pope Urban, warned of popular discontent, did not desist from his
project and had the bronze of the Pantheon brought to the papal
foundries and at the same time spread the word, through the notices
posted on the walls of the city, that the bronze would be used above all
for the twisted columns of the Bernini, for the canopy of the altar in
St. Peter's Basilica and, to a lesser extent, for the cannons. The text
of the notice, reproduced in the portico of the Pantheon, reads as
follows: «URBANUS VIII PONT. MAX. VETUSTAS AHENEI LACUNARIS RELIQUIAS IN
VATICANAS COLUMNAS ET BELLICA TORMENTA CONFLAVIT UT DECORA INUTILIA ET
IPSI PROPE FAMAE UNKNOWN FIERENT IN VATICAN TEMPLUS APOSTOLIC SEPULCHRI
ORNAMENTA IN HADRIANA ARCEXXE SECURITY PUBLIC. IX In fact, from the
papers of the Archivio della Fabbrica di San Pietro we learn that almost
all of the bronze of the beams (98.2%) was used for cannons and only the
remaining 1.8% was delivered to Bernini who, however, distrusting the
validity of the alloy used by the Romans, he returned it to the papal
foundries. After all Bernini did not need the bronze of the Pantheon as
he did not lack copper, taken from the roof of the dome of St. Peter's,
nor the tin which, coming from the Cornish mines, was landed in Livorno
and not in the nearest Civitavecchia where he was It is forbidden to
dock with English Protestant ships.
In the same period, two bell
towers were added to the sides of the pediment, the work of Gian Lorenzo
Bernini since then the subject of much heated criticism, soon known with
the derogatory "donkey ears"; they were eliminated in 1883 on the
initiative of the then Minister of Education Guido Baccelli in the
context of an extensive cycle of rehabilitation works which also saw the
demolition of the buildings leaning against the monument and the
restoration of the inscription in bronze letters on the front of the
temple.
In 1786 Goethe visited the Pantheon obtaining a great
emotional effect so much to write:
"Here the grandeur of the
Rotonda, both outside and inside, has aroused in me a joyful sense of
reverence."
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Journey to Italy)
The
illustrious burials
Already in the fifteenth century, the Pantheon
was enriched with frescoes: perhaps the best known is the Annunciation
by Melozzo da Forlì, located in the first chapel to the right of those
who enter. The church was then officially chosen as the seat of the
Pontifical Distinguished Academy of Fine Arts and Literature of the
Virtuosi al Pantheon, the academic front of the professional association
of artists which would later become the National Academy of San Luca.
Starting from the Renaissance in the Pantheon, as in all churches,
burials were made, in particular of illustrious artists. Even today,
among others, the tombs of the painters Raffaello Sanzio and Annibale
Carracci, of the architect Baldassarre Peruzzi and of the musician
Arcangelo Corelli are preserved.
The tombs of the kings of Italy
The Pantheon preserves the tombs of the two first kings of Italy,
Vittorio Emanuele II and his son Umberto I. The tomb of Vittorio
Emanuele II is located in the central chapel on the right. In reality,
the destination of the king's body in the Pantheon was the subject of
heated discussion: many, in fact, wanted it to be interred in the
Basilica of Superga, the traditional burial place of the Savoy. In the
end, however, the will of the Prime Minister Agostino Depretis and the
Minister of the Interior Francesco Crispi prevailed. The king's body was
exhibited in the Pantheon on January 17, 1878; on February 16 the solemn
state funeral was held at the Pantheon: on this occasion the building
was solemnly decorated. The gigantic funerary plaque, with the epigraph
"Vittorio Emanuele II - Father of the Fatherland" on it, which was
temporarily superimposed on the frieze, was cast by Alessandro Nelli's
foundry with the bronze of the cannons that had been snatched from the
Austrians during the wars of 1848 , of 1849 and 1859.
The
presence of the sovereign's tomb made the building one of the greatest
shrines of the House of Savoy; at the same time it is linked to the
future construction of the Vittoriano and therefore made the Pantheon
one of the symbols of the Third Rome. As a memorial to the House of
Savoy in 1882, protests arose immediately to prevent the body of
Giuseppe Garibaldi from being buried in the Pantheon. Exactly on the
opposite side of the Pantheon stands the tomb of King Umberto I and his
consort, Queen Margherita. The tomb was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi,
the same architect of the Vittoriano and the Expiatory Chapel of Monza
or the memorial to Umberto I built in the place of the king's murder.
The Pantheon tomb consists of a porphyry urn with four leonine protomes.
The royal tombs are kept in order by volunteers from monarchical
organizations. The honor guard service is rendered by the volunteers of
the National Institute for the honor guard at the royal tombs of the
Pantheon.
Pipe organ
The pipe organ of the Pantheon was conceived and built
in 1926 by Giovanni Tamburini, of the homonymous firm Tamburini, on the
occasion of the restoration of 1925-1933, and was inaugurated on 23
September of that same year. The instrument is equipped with a pneumatic
wind chest with conical valves, called "double compartment", and is
suitable for the interpretation of romantic music.
It is an
electrically-driven instrument with ten real stops, placed above a
double-compartment wind-chest and operated by both keyboards and the
console pedal. The set of canes is placed in an expressive box inside
the niche behind the statue of Sant'Erasio, to the left of the main
apse. Also due to the humidity of the monument, it needed a radical
restoration, which would bring it back to its original efficiency, for
the full service of the liturgy and the numerous musical initiatives
that the basilica promotes and hosts every year.
The Pantheon as
a model
«The most beautiful remnant of Roman antiquity is undoubtedly
the Pantheon. This temple has suffered so little that it appears to us
as the Romans must have seen in their time "
(Stendhal, Roman walks)
As the best preserved example of Roman monumental architecture, the
Pantheon had enormous influence on European and American architects (one
example above all, Andrea Palladio with the famous Villa La Rotonda in
Vicenza), from the Renaissance to the 19th century, with Neoclassicism.
Numerous churches, civic halls, universities and libraries echo its
structure with portico and dome. There are many famous buildings
influenced by the Pantheon: in Italy we note the famous Pantheon of the
monumental cemetery of Staglieno in Genoa, the façade of the Teatro
Massimo in Palermo, the church of San Carlo al Corso in Milan, the
basilica of San Francesco di Paola in Naples, the church of San Simeon
Piccolo in Venice, the Cisternone in Livorno, the Canovian Temple in
Possagno, the church of the Gran Madre di Dio and the Bela Rosin
mausoleum in Turin. Abroad the Pantheon of Soufflot in Paris and, in the
Anglo-Saxon countries, the rotunda of the British Museum, the villa of
Monticello and the rotunda of the University of Virginia commissioned by
Thomas Jefferson through the Palladian reinterpretation of the Pantheon,
the Low Memorial Library of Columbia University of New York and Pope's
Jefferson Memorial in Washington Also of note is the Church of the Holy
Trinity (Trefaldighetskyrkan) in Karlskrona, southern Sweden.
However, the fundamental structure in the broad sense (building with a
central plan with a dome with the addition of a facade inspired by the
Greek temple and overlooking a square built specifically for the
building) has been found, starting from Renaissance architecture, in
countless buildings, first of all the Basilica of San Pietro.
People entombed in the Pantheon in Rome
The following people were
buried inside the Pantheon:
Jacopo Barozzi from Vignola
Annibale
Carracci (in the third aedicule, to the right of the tomb of Raffaello
Sanzio),
Arcangelo Corelli (opposite the altar on the right),
John
of Udine
Queen Margherita of Savoy (second chapel),
Perin del Vaga
(near the altar),
Baldassarre Peruzzi,
Raffaello Sanzio (third
newsstand),
Maria Antonietta di Bibbiena (in the third shrine,
remembered with a plaque to the right of the tomb of Raffaello Sanzio),
King Umberto I of Savoy (second chapel),
Flaminio Vacca (near the
altar),
King Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy (sixth chapel),
Taddeo
Zuccari (near the altar),
Ercole Consalvi cardinal, his heart is
buried under the bust that portrays him.
Archaeological
excavations
1881-82, Excavations of the Palombella
1892-93,
Investigations carried out by the Royal Ministry of Education. Reliefs
and drawings by the architect Pier Olinto Armanini and an architectural
model by the French architect Georges Chedanne
1996-97,
Superintendence of cultural heritage of Rome
A legend of medieval origin is linked to the moat that runs around
the temple. It seems that the famous magician Pietro Barliario had
secured the possession of the command book, delivered to him by the
devil behind the sale of the soul. Except that, repented, he used his
magical arts to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela
and finally to the Pantheon in one day. Here he ran into the devil who
asked for his soul as agreed; but Bailardo gave the devil a handful of
nuts and quickly took refuge in the church, starting to pray sincerely
repentant. So he was saved; the angry devil circled the temple several
times, thus venting his fury, and such was the anger with which he ran
that he dug the moat still visible today.
The weight of each building
stone of the Pantheon reaches up to 90 tons. They are marble slabs that
more than 2000 years ago came from Egypt for the erection of the new
Roman temple.
The building was architecturally conceived to have a
single oculus-shaped window on the dome almost 9 meters in diameter.
From the lighting point of view, this opening towards the outside allows
the light to fall overhead and therefore a skilful play of chiaroscuro
inside. Over the centuries, many legends, astrological studies and
curiosities have arisen around the oculus of the Pantheon. It is said
that in ancient times the rain could not enter the building, due to the
heat and fumes of the candles that illuminated the interior. This
eventuality cannot be proven by reliable sources and therefore remains a
hypothesis cloaked in legend. Even today, abundant water enters the
Pantheon on rainy days, which is why the floor was designed with 22
holes to allow rain to filter through. Thanks to the presence of the
oculus, astronomical phenomena can be observed inside the architectural
building, so much so that it has been defined by some as "a solar
temple". In fact, on 21 April, the Christmas of Rome, at noon, a ray of
sunlight penetrates the oculus inside and hits the access portal.
According to a medieval legend, the oculus of the Pantheon was created
by the devil fleeing the temple of God. Another legend has it that
before the oculus was actually an opening intended to house the large
bronze pine cone, currently located in the Vatican. in the homonymous
courtyard.
With its internal diameter of 44.30 m, the dome of the
Pantheon is still the largest hemispherical dome ever built in
unreinforced concrete. It was the work of the reconstruction that in 128
A.D. the building underwent under the government of the emperor Hadrian.