4.7 The Best Surviving Structure from Antiquity: The Pantheon

A Marriage of Heaven & Earth Under the Ancient World's Largest Dome

Pantheon, Rome, 118-125 CE

-The High Empire-period Roman Pantheon is one of the most revolutionary and influential structures in architectural history. ( with he strength of concrete, a Roman vault, and the remarkable skills of its unknown architect(s)).

-Pantheon" means "temple of every god.

-the façade of the Pantheon with its eight massive Corinthian columns looks just like many Greek temples : +its entrance, + a pediment, + a frieze.

-a very Roman-style dedication: "Agrippa built this..." (Marcus Agrippa, an architect, military man and son-in-law of Augustus), but it was completed by the Empire's only foreign-born Emperor, Hadrian. 

behind that porch entrance

-an immense concrete cylinder covered by a huge hemispherical dome that is 142 in diameter and 142 tall from the floor--a vaulted space without support.

-Roman achitects achieved that diameter and soaring height by utilizing a variety of mixes of concrete using different types of volcanic stone:

+a heavier version with basalt added in for the bottom of the building's "drum" and dome base,

+then a lighter mix with pumice added in for the upper dome

→ These concrete "recipes" allowed the builders to create strength and stability as they also made the lower walls thicker and then progressively thinner higher up to also lighten the load.

-The design of the domed space is the intersection of two circles—one vertical, other horizontal.

-It's a reference to the orb-like shape of the earth (hình dạng quả cầu của trái đất) and the ceiling the heavens (trần nhà tượng trưng cho bầu trời)

-That "waffle" look is called a coffered ceiling and it would've original featured gilded rosettes(bông hoa hồng mạ vàng) in the middle of each inset square like stars.

-like Roman homes, there's a massive opening for light and air.

-When it's circular it's called an oculus.

-30 feet wide, large enough to where the sunlight moves across the original marble floors.