Past: Pantheon (c. 126 – 128 CE)
Rome’s Pantheon was an architectural innovation, even for advanced Roman engineering. Its rounded floor is flanked with niches in the walls. Each niche held an image of one of Rome’s many gods, and each (literally) got its time in the spotlight. The oculus in dome’s midpoint allows sun to stream in. Depending on the time of year and day, each niche lit up to ‘highlight’ a certain god. Although Hadrian commissioned the currently standing building, its frieze translates to “Marcus Agrippa the son of Lucius, three times consul, made this” likely acknowledging an earlier temple building built by Marcus Agrippa around 25 BCE. In 609 AD, the Catholic Church converted the Pantheon into a church, removing the Roman gods and putting in Catholic religious icons. They have maintained the building so today’s generations can step back in time and see the same marbles and concrete the ancient Romans saw.
