Pantheon

As an architect, this is the perfect building not only because it contains a sphere, one of the five platonic solids, but because it has survived the tests of time. Having been built as a place to honor many gods, (pan), important, abandoned, left to sit alone, restored to serve another religion, set back to its original form and all the while retaining its internal composure, stature and beauty. The Pantheon to me almost glows with a halo from its elite status among ancient buildings. The way they have lit it stages this emotive feeling, which when it was built would have been impossible to see. Modern lighting shows us it's form. Note the massive columns in depth, the inconsistent completeness of the capitals, and the missing frieze statuary all signs of politicized vandalism, much like what happened to the monuments in ancient Egypt. The exterior has weathered well all things considered, the interior, even more so. For a building with this much history and an open hole in the roof, what would expect from any modern building? This is one of the Gods of architecture to make the analogy. Right up there with the Parthenon that differs by only one letter. As you enter you are humbled by your size. Much like St Peters, this is about setting the mood and emotion to admit we are but mere mortals to all the gods or the one god, depending on who owned and manipulated the building's political aesthetic influence. Note also the coffers on the dome. They too use a bit of what Phideus did on the Parthenon. There are four squares in four planes inside of the main dome surface, or are there? No. They are trapezoids, with radial sides shrinking in width as they go up. If you are observant you will notice the inner most trapezoid is set highest, the next one a little lower and the third inside the fourth the lowest. You can see these by looking carefully at the shadows, which to me are amazing speakers of truth that give away a building true form. The greatest achievement in ancient art forms is understanding light and it's shadows. This is basic geometry. By constructing the coffers this way the dome seems larger and deeper. Because the eye perceives the deepest most plane to be further away. This was the genius of their creations Phideus did this on the Parthenon too. Exaggerate the size by manipulating the purity of the basic forms. The dome is simple enough, but the later addition of polychromic marble adds an even more spectacular effect to the grandeur of the space. This is one of my favorite spaces from antiquity, seconded only by the pyramids and the Partheon. The grandeur of St Peters has the same effect, but the single barrel vaults elegance simplifies the more intriguing groin vaults to its side aisles. The Pantheon has none of those, it simply rotates away all of the edges inherent in the square. That is the reason the circle and sphere, with its infinite angles are made aesthetically analogous to the divine. A must see in Rome. Get tickets before and go early.