Visit To Pantheon, Rome

The original Pantheon was built in 27-25 BC under the Roman Empire, during the third consulship of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and his name is inscribed on the portico of the building. The inscription reads MáAGRIPPAáLáFáCOSáTERTIUMáFECIT, "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this."

Gurpal was designated as our Navigation man,he suggested to walk down to Pantheon from Our Hotel  Fontenalla Borghese beautifully located in the center of the town.

The Roman Pantheon is the most preserved and influential building of ancient Rome. It is a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods of pagan Rome. As the brick stamps on the side of the building reveal it was built and dedicated between A.D 118 and 125.

However, the inscription on the face of the building is misleading. Agrippa did indeed build the first Pantheon ("Temple to all the gods") in Rome, in the year we now call 25 BC. His temple was destroyed by fire in 80 AD, but was rebuilt by the emperor Domitian. This second pantheon burned in 110 AD. The emperor Hadrian rebuilt the temple during the period from 118 to 128 AD. Hadrian, a quite modest man (at least by Roman standards), never had his name inscribed on any of his buildings. In the case of the Pantheon, he honored Agrippa, the building of the first pantheon, by repeating the inscription that appeared on the original temple.

The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft).

It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" (Latin: Santa Maria ad Martyres) but informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda". 

The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. The Pantheon is a state property, ruled by Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism through the Polo Museale del Lazio; in 2013 it was visited by over 6 million people.

Though the Pantheon's large circular domed cella, with a conventional temple portico front, is "unique" in Roman architecture, it was much the largest and most accessible complete classical temple front known to the Italian Renaissance, and was the standard exemplar when classical styles were revived. It has therefore been copied many times by modern architects.

But on the INSIDE the Pantheon is one big giant dome, the largest dome ever built in the world up to that time - 43 meters in diameter (142 feet), and 43 meters from the floor to the top of the dome. To hold up this dome, the builders had to make the brick and concrete six meters thick - about twenty feet!

Entrance Hotel Fontanela Borghese, Rome