Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the Pantheon in Rome constructed?
The Pantheon (UK: /ˈpænθiən/, US: /-ɒn/;[1] Latin: Pantheum,[nb 1] from Greek Πάνθειον Pantheion, "[temple] of all the gods") is a former Roman temple, now a church, in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). It was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126AD. Its date of construction is uncertain, because Hadrian chose not to inscribe the new temple but rather to retain the inscription of Agrippa's older temple, which had burned down.[2]
Since the French Revolution, when the church of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris was deconsecrated and turned into the secular monument called the Panthéon of Paris, the generic term pantheon has sometimes been applied to other buildings in which illustrious dead are honoured or buried.[1]
The only passages referring to the decoration of the Agrippan Pantheon written by an eyewitness are in Pliny's Natural History. From him we know that "the capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by M. Agrippa in the Pantheon, are made of Syracusan bronze",[23] that "the Pantheon of Agrippa has been decorated by Diogenes of Athens, and the Caryatides, by him, which form the columns of that temple, are looked upon as masterpieces of excellence: the same, too, with the statues that are placed upon the roof,"[24] and that one of Cleopatra's pearls was cut in half so that each half "might serve as pendants for the ears of Venus, in the Pantheon at Rome".[25]
The heart of Rome’s natural order was the city of Rome, home to the gods of state, their cults and their senior priest-officials, who in the Republic were the ruling consuls. Rome’s most powerful god, "Jupiter Optimus Maximus" (Jupiter greatest and best) favoured “his” city because his own power and status were constructed by the Roman law, rites and sacrifice which elevated and honoured him. The same principles constructed the various powers and honours of all other gods of the state pantheon. Public cults ("sacra publica") were state funded, at least in principle, and most priesthoods occupied by high-ranking citizens.
Cassius Dio, a Graeco-Roman senator, consul and author of a comprehensive History of Rome, writing approximately 75 years after the Pantheon's reconstruction, mistakenly attributed the domed building to Agrippa rather than Hadrian. Dio appears to be the only near-contemporaneous writer to mention the Pantheon. Even by the year 200, there was uncertainty about the origin of the building and its purpose:
The "Religio Romana" (literally, the "Roman Religion") constituted the major religion of the city in antiquity. The first gods held sacred by the Romans were Jupiter, the most high, and Mars, god of war, and father of Rome's twin founders, Romulus and Remus, according to tradition. The goddess Vesta became an important part of the Roman Pantheon at an early stage of the Roman Monarchy. The goddess Diana joined Roman Pantheon during the Monarchy times as the central goddess uniting worship between Rome and several of its neighbors, thus creating the basis for a coalition. The goddess Juno was imported to Rome from the ancient city of Veii, after Veii fell to the Roman military, following a long period of wars between the two cities, during the time of the Roman Republic. Other gods and goddesses were honored in Rome and added to the Pantheon throughout the Monarchy and Republic periods. See Livy, Books 1-5.
In order to avoid the difficulty of giving an exhaustive list of deities when devoting a temple or sacred building, a structure explicitly dedicated to "all deities" also came to be referred to as a "Pantheon". The best known of such structures is the Pantheon of Rome, first built between the years 27 BCE and 14 CE. The building standing today was constructed on the same site around 126 CE. It was dedicated to "all gods" as a gesture embracing the religious syncretism in the increasingly multicultural Roman Empire, with subjects worshipping gods from many cultures and traditions. The building was later renovated for use as a Christian church in 609 under Pope Boniface IV.
Since the Renaissance the Pantheon has been the site of several important burials. Among those buried there are the painters Raphael and Annibale Carracci, the composer Arcangelo Corelli, and the architect Baldassare Peruzzi. In the 15th century, the Pantheon was adorned with paintings: the best-known is the Annunciation by Melozzo da Forlì. Filippo Brunelleschi, among other architects, looked to the Pantheon as inspiration for their works.
In 1711, the fountain was given its current appearance when Pope Clement XI had the Late Baroque sculptor Filippo Barigioni top it with a 20-foot red marble Egyptian obelisk. The obelisk, originally constructed by Pharaoh Ramses II for the Temple of Ra in Heliopolis, had been brought to Rome in ancient times where it was reused in the "Iseum Campense", a shrine to the Egyptian god Isis that stood to the southeast of the Pantheon. It was rediscovered in 1374 underneath the apse of the nearby Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. In the mid-15th century, the obelisk had been erected in the small Piazza di San Macuto some 200 meters east of the Pantheon, where it remained until its 1711 move to the Piazza della Rotonda. It is still called the "Obelisco Macutèo" after its previous location.
Henry Blundell was a collector, first of paintings and later of statues and antiquities, the collection amounting to over 500 items. In order to house them at Ince Blundell, he constructed a series of buildings in the grounds of the hall. Initially he kept his collection in a series of greenhouses, but in about 1790–92 he built the Garden Temple, a building in Classical style. This was followed in about 1802–05 by a more impressive building, the Pantheon, its design based on the Pantheon in Rome. When Henry died in 1810, the hall passed to his son, Charles. He died childless in 1837, and the estate passed to Thomas Weld, a cousin. He took the name of Thomas Weld Blundell, and restored, refurnished and redecorated the hall. In the mid-19th century a large bay window was added to the west side of the Drawing Room, and a new Dining Room was built at the east end. Ceilings were raised, and interior decoration was carried out by the firm of Crace. Weld Blundell added a new vestibule to connect the Gallery, the Dining Room, and the Pantheon. The portico of the Pantheon became the new main entrance to the hall, and the Pantheon itself the reception hall. What had been the original chapel became the organ loft of a new large two-storey chapel designed by J. J. Scoles.
The building was originally approached by a flight of steps. Later construction raised the level of the ground leading to the portico, eliminating these steps.[5]
The Pantheon's large circular domed cella, with a conventional temple portico front, was unique in Roman architecture. Nevertheless, it became a standard exemplar when classical styles were revived, and has been copied many times by later architects.[6]
Annibale Lippi (16th century-Rome, after 18 November 1581) was an Italian architect active during the second half of 16th century. He was son of the sculptor and architect Nanni di Baccio Bigio. Pupil of Francesco Salviati, his only certain works are the church of Our Lady of Loreto at Spoleto, built around 1572, where he adopts a Vignola style, the churches of Santa Maria a Monte Cavallo and Santa Maria della Pietà a Piazza Colonna, both in Rome. The Villa Medici in Rome, who used to be assigned to it, is probably due to his father, but he worked there during the construction. In Rome Lippi restored the Palazzo dei Convertendi at Piazza Scossacavalli in Borgo, when this was bought by Cardinal Francesco Commendone (1523–84), and gave to the building its definitive facade. In 1578 he appeared among the members of the Accademia dei Virtuosi at Pantheon. He died after 18 November 1581 when, already ill, wrote his testament, and was buried in the family tomb in Trinità dei Monti in Rome.
The Augustan Pantheon was destroyed along with other buildings in a huge fire in the year 80 AD. Domitian rebuilt the Pantheon, which was burnt again in 110 AD.[26]
Roman civil engineering and military engineering constituted a large part of Rome's technological superiority and legacy, and contributed to the construction of hundreds of roads, bridges, aqueducts, baths, theaters and arenas. Many monuments, such as the Colosseum, Pont du Gard, and Pantheon, remain as testaments to Roman engineering and culture.
The Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon is one of the Pontifical Academies under the direction of the Holy See. The complete Italian name of the academy, Pontificia Insigne Accademia di Belle Arti e Letteratura dei Virtuosi al Pantheon, includes the adjective "insigne" (illustrious), often omitted in official English translations. The term "Virtuosi al Pantheon" (virtuosos of the Pantheon) is also usually left untranslated, but, in any event, should not be taken in the English musical sense of “virtuoso” but rather “artists of great merit”. The Pantheon in Rome was the historical home of the academy. The term “academy” is meant in the Renaissance definition of the term as an association of learned persons and not an institution of instruction.
Agrippa finished the construction of the building called the Pantheon. It has this name, perhaps because it received among the images which decorated it the statues of many gods, including Mars and Venus; but my own opinion of the name is that, because of its vaulted roof, it resembles the heavens.
As a titular Duke of Modena, the current holder of the title of "Prince of Carrara" would be Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este.Carrara marble has been used since the time of Ancient Rome. The Pantheon and Trajan's Column in Rome are constructed of it, and many sculptures of the Renaissance were carved from it.
The dome permitted construction of vaulted ceilings without crossbeams and made possible large covered public space such as public baths and basilicas, such as Hadrian's Pantheon, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla, all in Rome.
The dome photographed with a fisheye lens in 2016 South east view of the Pantheon from Piazza della Minerva, 2006 The dome of the Pantheon seen from the hill of Janiculum The Pantheon by night Pantheon 2013 Dome by night
In striking contrast to previous cultures, an enormous amount is known about Roman building construction. A very large amount survives, including complete intact buildings like the Pantheon, Rome and very well preserved ruins at Pompeii and Herculaneum. We also have the first surviving treatise on architecture by Vitruvius which includes extensive passages on construction techniques.
The commitment to reject traditional Gothic buttresses had been made when Neri di Fioravanti's model was chosen over a competing one by Giovanni di Lapo Ghini. That architectural choice, in 1367, was one of the first events of the Italian Renaissance, marking a break with the Medieval Gothic style and a return to the classic Mediterranean dome. Italian architects regarded Gothic flying buttresses as ugly makeshifts. Furthermore, the use of buttresses was forbidden in Florence, as the style was favored by central Italy's traditional enemies to the north. Neri's model depicted a massive inner dome, open at the top to admit light, like Rome's Pantheon, but enclosed in a thinner outer shell, partly supported by the inner dome, to keep out the weather. It was to stand on an unbuttressed octagonal drum. Neri's dome would need an internal defense against spreading (hoop stress), but none had yet been designed.
The building of such a masonry dome posed many technical problems. Brunelleschi looked to the great dome of the Pantheon in Rome for solutions. The dome of the Pantheon is a single shell of concrete, the formula for which had long since been forgotten. The Pantheon had employed structural centring to support the concrete dome while it cured . This could not be the solution in the case of a dome this size and would put the church out of use. For the height and breadth of the dome designed by Neri, starting above the floor and spanning , there was not enough timber in Tuscany to build the scaffolding and forms. Brunelleschi chose to follow such design and employed a double shell, made of sandstone and marble. Brunelleschi would have to build the dome out of brick, due to its light weight compared to stone and being easier to form, and with nothing under it during construction. To illustrate his proposed structural plan, he constructed a wooden and brick model with the help of Donatello and Nanni di Banco, a model which is still displayed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. The model served as a guide for the craftsmen, but was intentionally incomplete, so as to ensure Brunelleschi's control over the construction.
Mark Wilson Jones has attempted to explain the design adjustments carried out in relating the porch to the dome, arguing that the Pantheon's porch was originally designed for monolithic granite columns with shafts 50 Roman feet tall (weighing about 100 tons) and capitals 10 Roman feet tall in the Corinthian style.[43] The taller porch would have hidden the second pediment visible on the intermediate block. Instead, after the intended columns failed to arrive, the builders made many awkward adjustments in order to use shafts 40 Roman feet tall and capitals eight Roman feet tall.[44] This substitution was probably a result of logistical difficulties at some stage in the construction. Alternatively, it has also been argued that the scale of the portico related to the urban design of the space in front of the temple.[45] The grey granite columns that were actually used in the Pantheon's pronaos were quarried in Egypt at Mons Claudianus in the eastern mountains. Each was 39 feet (11.9m) tall, 5 feet (1.5m) in diameter, and 60 tons in weight.[46] These were dragged more than 100km (62 miles) from the quarry to the river on wooden sledges. They were floated by barge down the Nile River when the water level was high during the spring floods, and then transferred to vessels to cross the Mediterranean Sea to the Roman port of Ostia. There, they were transferred back onto barges and pulled up the Tiber River to Rome.[47] After being unloaded near the Mausoleum of Augustus, the site of the Pantheon was still about 700 metres away.[48] Thus, it was necessary to either drag them or to move them on rollers to the construction site.
or in full, "M[arcus] Agrippa L[ucii] f[ilius] co[n]s[ul] tertium fecit," meaning "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made [this building] when consul for the third time."[20] However, archaeological excavations have shown that the Pantheon of Agrippa had been completely destroyed except for the façade. Lise Hetland argues that the present construction began in 114, under Trajan, four years after it was destroyed by fire for the second time (Oros. 7.12). She reexamined Herbert Bloch's 1959 paper, which is responsible for the commonly maintained Hadrianic date, and maintains that he should not have excluded all of the Trajanic-era bricks from his brick-stamp study. Her argument is particularly interesting in light of Heilmeyer's argument that, based on stylistic evidence, Apollodorus of Damascus, Trajan's architect, was the obvious architect.[21]
, Live streaming Video of the Pantheon , Virtual Panorama and photo gallery , article in Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome at Great Buildings/Architecture Week website at Structurae High-resolution 360° Panoramas and Images of