Upon finally getting to the Pantheon

 
On a group tour of Rome in fall 2023, our guide wrangled us through the crowds of visitors, pointing out the Pantheon as we shuffled past. "What?! We're not going in??" Well, no, we didn't. The Pantheon has been on my bucket list since second year undergrad art history. And not to go?? 

I believe that moment was the catalyst for plans that formed over the subsequent winter months. I would go to Rome. Me, solo. I would book to see all the treasures I wanted, and enjoy them, on my own time, at my own speed. In my own company. And I did, and it was all that I'd hoped, and more.

As it turned out (well, it was planned), my small hotel was a two-minute walk from the Pantheon. I visited the piazza most days.  I used the Pantheon as my landmark as I found my weary way home from daily walkabouts. I ambled through the passeggiata crowds, enjoyed al fresco dinner in a cafe with the night-lit portico looming above. I joined a guided tour and went inside!

I won't try to describe it. Or capture its history. There are loads of experts out there.  I'll just try to capture what moved me.

altar of St. Paul

The Pantheon (a temple to all the gods) was built by Agrippa in 26 to 25 BC; Emperor Hadrian, who usually gets credited, was in charge of the 118-125AD reconstruction. The Pantheon is one of the very few ancient Roman buildings that has survived almost intact. 

And that, as is often the case, was because it was converted to a Christian church in 609AD. That didn't stop the building from being pillaged for building materials, as it had been since the middle ages. Even in 1631 Pope Urban VIII had the gilded bronze cladding removed from the porch and melted down for the Bernini's magnificent baldacchino in St. Peter's and cannons for Castel Sant'Angelo. According to this site, anyway. I've read differing opinions.

Did you know that the Pantheon's real name is Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres? I didn't.

So many layers of history reside in this magnificent strructure. I'll work on peeling back some of the layers in later posts. 

And if I may be allowed, a bit of my own layer of history with the Eternal City. This is a photo taken from my table at my last al fresco dinner in my second favourite city in Italy.