The Oculus: The Pantheon's Most Iconic Feature Explained The Pantheon’s oculus is a circular opening 8.9 metres in diameter at the apex of the dome. It is open to the sky with no covering. It serves three purposes: structural (reducing weight at the dome’s most vulnerable point), practical (the building’s only natural light source), and … Read more
The Pantheon & Raphael: The Artist's Tomb Raphael’s tomb is in the third niche on the left as you enter the Pantheon, counting clockwise. His stone sarcophagus was carved by his pupil Lorenzetto. Above it stands Lorenzetto’s marble statue of the Madonna del Sasso. The epitaph, written in Latin by Cardinal Pietro Bembo, reads: “Here … Read more
The Pantheon Door: Rome's Ancient Bronze Gates The Pantheon’s bronze doors are 7.53 metres tall and 4.45 metres wide, consisting of two leaves each weighing approximately 8.5 tonnes. They are the oldest surviving bronze doors in Rome. Despite weighing around 20 tonnes in total, they are so perfectly balanced on their original pivot pins that … Read more
The Pantheon Building: An Introduction The Pantheon is a nearly 1,900-year-old Roman temple converted to a Catholic church in 609 AD, located at Piazza della Rotonda in Rome’s historic centre. It is the best-preserved ancient building in the world. The exterior combines a classical Greek-style portico — 16 granite columns 11.8 metres tall, weighing 60 … Read more
The Pantheon at Night: What to Know Before You Go The Pantheon closes at 19:00 Monday–Saturday and 18:00 on Sundays — interior entry is not available after closing. However, the exterior — the illuminated portico, columns, and piazza — is accessible and impressive at any hour. Several evening walking tours include the Pantheon as an … Read more
The Kings of Italy at the Pantheon The Pantheon contains the tombs of Victor Emmanuel II (Italy’s first king, died 1878) and Umberto I (Italy’s second king, assassinated 1900), along with Umberto’s wife Queen Margherita of Savoy (died 1926). Victor Emmanuel II’s tomb is in the second niche on the right as you enter. Umberto … Read more
Inside the Pantheon: A Room-by-Room Guide The Pantheon’s interior is a single circular room — the rotunda — 43.3 metres in diameter and 43.3 metres high. The coffered concrete dome, the oculus at its apex, the ancient marble floor, seven niches containing altars and tombs, and the tombs of Raphael and the Italian kings are … Read more
The History of the Pantheon: From Roman Temple to Christian Church The Pantheon’s history spans nearly 2,000 years. The first building was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa in 27 BC. It burned down in 80 AD. A second version under Domitian also burned, around 110 AD. Emperor Hadrian built the current structure between approximately 113 and … Read more
Who Is Buried in the Pantheon? The Pantheon contains the tombs of Raphael (third niche on the left), Victor Emmanuel II — first king of unified Italy (second niche on the right), Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy (first niche on the right), plus the artists Annibale Carracci, Baldassare Peruzzi, and Arcangelo Corelli, among … Read more
The Architecture of the Pantheon: How It Was Built & Why It Still Stands The Pantheon combines a classical rectangular Greek portico with a revolutionary circular domed rotunda. The dome — 43.3 metres diameter, the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome — was cast from opus caementicium (Roman concrete) using a graduated mixture that becomes lighter … Read more