Pantheon
Pantheon, Rome the building's dome, more than 43 meters high is most impressive.
Of all ancient Rome's great buildings, the Pantheon is the only one to remain intact. It was built in 27 B.C. by Marcus Agrippa and was reconstructed by Hadrian in the early 2nd century A.C. This remarkable building, 43 m wide and 43 m high, a perfect sphere resting on a cylinder, and once ringed with white marble statues of Roman gods in its niches, is among the architectural wonders of the world because of its dome and its concept of space. Hadrian himself is credited with the basic plan, an architectural design that was unique for the time. The once-gilded dome is merely a show. A real dome, a perfect hemisphere of cast concrete, resting on a solid ring wall, supporting this massive structure. Before the 20th century, this was the biggest pile of concrete ever built. The ribbed dome outside is a series of almost weightless cantilevered bricks. Animals were sacrificed and burned in the centre, and the smoke escaped through the only means of light, the oculus, an opening at the top, measuring 5.4 m in diameter. Michelangelo studied the Pantheon’s dome before designing St. Peter's dome (whose dome is 6 m smaller than the pantheon). The walls are 7.5 metres thick, and the bronze door leading into the building weighs 20 tons. About 125 years ago, Raphael's tomb was discovered here. Vittorio Emanuele II, king of Italy, and his successor, Umberto I, are also interred here. The Pantheon is a free admission monument.
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