The History and Description of the Pantheon - Essay Example

The History and of the Pantheon Introduction The Pantheon is among the grand architectural establishments of all time. It is completely bold, original, multilayered in relations and meaning as well as the container of a kind of immanent universality. The architectural design represents a wider world than the imperial Rome where it is situated. The Pantheon has left its mark more than any other architectural establishment around the world. Its message is compounded of obscurity and facts, stasis and uncertainty of the earth and that above it, the pulses through the architecture the western man’s descendants, both structure and concept. The force of the presence of Pantheon as well as its environmental symbolism often works charismatically upon visitors who experience the beautiful reach of its canopied void while passing through its bronze door into the enclosing rotunda. The extensive and influential architectural effects of the Pantheon upon the subsequent buildings are incontrovertible, and documented widely for the design and various aspects of the architecture (Baker 30). The controversial designer of the architecture, Hadrian, had an in-depth architectural brilliance accompanied with deep interest in architecture. He demonstrated inexplicable impudence and superiority in his architectures. Literature reveals that the conception and design of the Pantheon was original. Notwithstanding the fair amount of data and information on the history of the building, the eventual meaning and impression of the building remains in its intricacy and mystery. The description of the Rome architecture, the Pantheon, is presented with information on its history. The description will cover the interior and exterior descriptions. History of the Pantheon According to MacDonald, the architect of the Rome Pantheon is unidentified. MacDonald states that it is almost certain that Hadrian was not the architect of the Pantheon despite his name being widely suggested as the one. He argues that the construction of the building must have required a thorough going professional to create the drawings and models, calculate the design and construction details and supervise the complex and extracting work as it progressed. Whoever the architect of the Pantheon may have been, the architect stands in relation to the building of Hadrian as Justinian to the Hagia Sophia or Louis XIV to Versailles. Hadrian, the Pantheon as well as the cultural texture of the early second century are all interlinked inextricably. As a result, no doubt exists that Hadrian was the motivating personality behind the conception and design of the Pantheon (MacDonald 12). Hadrian was born in well established colonial family in Roman Spain during the reign of emperor Vespian in 76 A.D. Hadrian was made the emperor upon the death of Trajan who reigned between 98 and 117 A.D. Hadrian reigned between 117 and 138 A.D. The location where the Pantheon was built was earlier occupied by a rectangular sanctuary of similar dedication built by the great minister Agrippa of Augustus, and dedicated around 25 B.C. The building was burnt down twice prior to the accession of Hadrian, and replaced entirely by Hadrian with the current structure. Nevertheless, Hadrian reinstated the original inscriptions of Agrippa, “Marcus Agrippa the son of Lucius, three times consul, built this,” on his new building. This inscription has led to significant confusion. Up-to-date, the Pantheon is uncommonly said to have been constructed during the period of Augustus Caesar. This date is wide off the mark by approximately 150 years because the inscription in bold bronze letters that spreads across the entablature of the great porch is modern (MacDonald 13). The appropriate date of building the Pantheon is approximated to be the first half of the reign of Hadrian. The architecture was not commenced prior to 117 A.D., and was most probably dedicated around 126 A.D. to 128 A.D. During the second century, the Roman brick makers stamped methodologically a proportion of their large, tile-shaped bricks with their brickyards’ names and the names of consuls presently in office. A portion of the bricks in each shipment were pressed with wooden stamps prior to firing, probably because of taxation or inventory. This process took place when the clay was still reasonably wet and soft. Consequently, large amount of information was recorded in abbreviated Latin. The known date when the annual consuls were in office have been used to date the bricks bearing the names of the consuls. This concept has simplified considerably the work of architectural archeologists as well as historians when dating imposing establishments. The brick-stamps found on the Pantheon has been significant in establishing a terminus post quem because the building in whose structure they are found could not have been constructed prior to the earliest dates recorded on them. The body of the Pantheon has predominance of brick-stamps of early 120 A.D., and based on this information the construction of the architecture is established (MacDonald 13). The Pantheon may have been dedicated around 125 to 128 A.D. a time in history when Hadrian was absent on the inspection tour of the provinces. The construction of chief architectural creation of Hadrian, the huge Temple of Venus and Rome, began after the Pantheon in 121 A.D. It was not finished until 136 A.D. or 137 A.D. (MacDonald 14). Around the year 609 A.D. in the depths of the Dark Ages, the emperor in Constantine gave permission for Pope IV to consecrate the Pantheon as a church after the removal of the pagan filth. Rome had shrunk to a little more than a village, but the renewal of the pagan temple as a Christian church helped considerably in ensuring the survival of the Pantheon. Its conversion into a temple placed it under maintenance program provided by the papal town (MacDonald 14). The majority of the public buildings and squares around the Pantheon fell into ruin during the five centuries between its building and consecration as a church. This began around 330 A.D. when the capital to Constantinople was removed from Rome. About 398 A.D., the absent imperial government issued a restriction against building where the Pantheon stands. The decrepitude of large and small buildings by humans and nature caused the level of the ground around the Pantheon to rise gradually. This event significantly transformed the appearance and architectural effects of the building. This period in the history of Rome resulted in the present Pantheon’s appearance as if it had settled into the ground. It was not constructed into the ground; however, the ground had risen considerably around it (MacDonald 18). Description of the Architecture Interior Description The interior of the Pantheon presents an awe-inspiring sight of a gigantic volume based on pure geometry of a hemisphere resting on cylinder top of similar diameter. The completion of the hemispherical dome results into a sphere, representing the Roman symbol for the universe within the rotunda. The diameter and height of the interior diameter are approximately equal at 142-feet five inches. The oculus, a circular opening located at the top of the dome, is the only source of light for the Pantheon. The light incoming through the oculus draws the attention of any visitor inside the Pantheon. The incoming light emphasizes the height of the dome, presenting drama to the interior space (Castex 107). The interior of the Pantheon consist of a thrilling space, out of the equilibrium of the diameter and height. It is improved by wall decorations in form of multicolored marbles from every corner of the Empire. The inside space has surfaces highly polished, reflecting light shaft incoming through the oculus that moves during the day like a spotlight over the walls and floor (Castex 108). The dome narrows toward the oculus. The interior of the Pantheon is subdivided into three sections, and decorated to display a quality of unity and grandeur. The lowest level suggests a colonnade by the Corinthian order, which frames the eight niches. Six of the niches contain altars dedicated to various gods. Above the lowest level are the middle level and the coffered dome figures as the highest level (Castex 109). The middle level breaks the scale of the interior through introducing a decorative zone to set off the rise of the dome to represent a celestial globe. The dome has a total of 28 ribs, representing the orbit of the moon to the Romans. From inside the Pantheon, the 28 ribs of the dome together with the movement of the Sun, displayed through the shaft of light via the oculus, represents a diagram of celestial motion (Castex 109). Opposite its door is a lower-leveled semicircular apse. Further, each side of the door has three more indentations alternately semicircular and rectangular. These alcoves are separated from the underneath space of the dome by monolithic columns paired. The interior of the Pantheon presents bounding walls besides the domed ceiling. The marble floor of the Pantheon features a design comprising of various geometric patterns. The configuration and formation of the Pantheon consist of a chain of intersecting curves. The intersecting rings rest on the eight berths that support eight round-headed archways, running through the drum from the inner to the outer countenance. The architectural blueprint affirms that the curves match the eight bays housing the sculptures on the ground level (Castex 109). A chain of arches run horizontally round the Pantheon to support the dome, helping support the weight of the huge building. Relief sculpture of possible gilded bronze decorates the pediment. Squares and circles make up the unifying interior design’s theme. The floor pattern is checkerboard, which is a contrast to the concentric circles of the dome’s square coffers. Exterior Description The Pantheon encloses the most awe-inspiring spaces of light as well as a void that represents the universe in imagined form. It has a bold monumental dome, which encloses a circular worship space, representing the summation of concepts developed by the Roman architects. The Pantheon is a combination of arch and dome with the traditional architectural aspects through outstanding architectural skills as well as building materials (Baker 27). It has Corinthian columns, monumental temple-fronto portico and conventional entablature. The building reveals design excellence attributes through a combination of traditional architectural aspects with form considerate to scale, rhythms, symmetry and proportion of nature (Baker 30). The front portico is made up of three lined columns with the initial row having eight columns whereas the rest of the strips have four columns each. The Pantheon faces almost due north, and it is aligned directly with the Mausoleum of Augustus. The building is a dome with no corners, no beginnings or ends; an illustration of perfection, continuity and permanence (DuTemple 53). According to DuTemple, the rotunda wall is 20-feet-thick or six-meters-thick and circular. It consists of two circular brick walls, one placed inside the other with a core of concrete sandwiched between the walls. The first interior brick wall is 43 meters in diameter, whereas the second wall is 20-feet away from the first wall (DuTemple 28). The drum is uninterrupted circle with several voids carefully constructed onto it. A brick skin is constructed around the shaped of the voids. The inside of the drum contain eight large niches into the wall with one of the openings crossing the wall to become the entrance of the Pantheon. The remaining seven bays have extended more than halfway through the back of the rotunda wall (DuTemple 30). The rotunda walls and floor were decorated beautifully, but the emphasis was on the dome. The oculus ring is lined with gilded bronze moldings. The dome is soaring and seems to defy gravity. It has wonderfully illuminated space (DuTemple 51). The dome ceiling of the Pantheon is approximated to be stretching across 142 feet. The dome lacks support beams or columns that hold it up in the middle (DuTemple 5). The portico contains three paddles of eight columns, supporting an entablature opposite the square, bearing the well-known inscriptions in Latin acknowledging the construction to Agrippa. As initially explained, the existing temple was reconstructed by Hadrian later. The dome is built of stair-cased rings of solid concrete, reducing in thickness at the perimeter of the oculus. The portico has 16 very large columns quarried in Egypt. Each of the 16 columns has 1.5 meters diameter. They support a pediment that has the inscription acknowledging the construction of the pantheon to Agrippa (Baker 30). When the Pantheon is approached from the outside, its shape comes into view as rectangular. In contrast, the building has no corners except the cella. The rotunda is totally round. Conclusion The Pantheon is among the grand architectural establishments across the world with the largest dome. The architecture is not well known, but Hadrian is attributed to facilitating its construction despite retaining the name of Agrippa on the building. It is used presently as a Roman temple and was built around 126 A.D. It is predominantly circular with only the cella being rectangular. The pantheon is made up of a portico, a rotunda and a concrete soaring dome with an oculus for incoming light. Its interior presents an awe-inspiring sight of a gigantic volume, improved by wall decorations in form of multicolored marbles. The pediment is decorated with relief sculptures of possible gilded bronze. The rotunda walls and floor were decorated beautifully. The pattern of the floor is checkerboard, which is a contrast to the concentric circles of the dome’s square coffers. Works Cited Baker, William T. Architectural Excellence: In a Diverse World Culture. Mulgrave, Victoria: Images Publishing, 2008. Print. Castex, Jean. Architecture of Italy. Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood Press, 2008. Print. DuTemple, Lesley A. The Pantheon. Minneapolis : Lerner Publications Corporation, 2003. Print. MacDonald, William L. The Pantheon: Design, Meaning, and Progeny, Second Edition. Cambridge, Massachussetts : Harvard University Press, 2002. Print. Read More