We travelled to Rome today, and went out to see the Pantheon. Its probably my most favourite building - I just cant get enough of the place.
When we first visited Rome back in 2006 (on our honeymoon), I hadnt actually heard of the place. And when we found it I was blown away - its just awesome.
I'm a lover of Roman history and architecture, and for me this just stands out as the most amazing thing left behind by the Romans.
Its huge, and still in good condition considering its age, and is still in use. You can go inside, but it was closed when we got there. And the inside is also amazing, so that will have to wait until another post.
It was originally dedicated as a Roman temple, and then turned over to being a Christian church in around the 7th century, which it has continued to be since then, which is quite astounding in itself.
Its quite a battle scarred building, and it has clearly been altered many times - which is part of the beauty for me. It was obviously such an important and impressive building that it had to be maintained in some from throughout its history.
I think the backend was probably also covered in marble/decorative stone as well, but that has been stripped over the years. However it leaves behind glimpses of how it was built. Here you can see arches built to provide strength, but those arches are built on curves ! Pretty impressive for the time !
We visited it lots of times the last time we came to Rome, and I'm planning on doing the same. I can just sit and look at it all day long - and it was the first thing we aimed for on this trip, and luckily our hotel is quite close - bonus !
The pic above is from be back elevation, and it can be seen that a few fragments of decorative stone/marble remain, which makes me think it probably was all covered at one point. It must have looked amazing.
Above are the main doors. They are huge - just thinking about how they would have been made and put in position gives me a headache !
And those pillars at the front are just epic - the decorative scrolls at the top are just beautiful.
And there are the bases - its a pity I hadnt captured something in the pics to provide scale, because they are massive !
Above shows the back of one of the sides - again, not pretty from this angle without the decorative cover - but it still gives an appreciation of the workmanship and size.
And the view above is from the top of our hotel - and you can see its dome on the right. Its still the largest un-reinforced concrete dome in the world, which is quite incredible !
To say I was excited to get to see my fav building again is an understatement. And I'm really looking forward to going inside tomorrow - cant wait !!!!
