Roman

Pantheon, Rome, Italy,118-125 CE.

Labeled the temple of all the gods, the Pantheon is recognized as one of the best-preserved buildings and most influential designes in architectural history. Hadrian and his engineers took advanced steps in architecture, there was an exploration of concrete structures, as they building layer upon layer to produce the dome, requiring great expertise precision and approach. The building up of the Pantheon was nothing but revolutionary. The interior of the structure containes still the original marble veneer of the walls, niches, and floors. It is said that upon entering the Pantheon the thing that is noticed the most is the use of space. Considering the thickness of the walls, the space within could easily bue seen as a place with little space. Rather, upon entering you become overwhelmed byt he amount of space that can be found, being broken up very little, with the opening of the Oculus 30 ft. above. As the sky shines through the top of the dome, that being the only light source, there is a great sense of space.

Moving on to symbolism, the Pantheon had been made for all gods. It has the ability, with the use of space alone with the open sky to invite, or draw closer to earth the heavens. Portraying the idea that they would like all gods to be a part of their lives. Hadrian was their emperor, as he had build the Pantheon, it represented to his people his views on allowing the gods to play a role in his dicatorship. Whether or not the people saw it as such, I cannot say. But it would be easy to think that by builidng the Pantheon, so monumental as it was, it had a great influence on the way his people looked upon him as their leader.