Pantheon, Rome, Italy
Pantheon located in the Piazza della Rotonda in Rome, Italy, was originally built as a Roman Temple. Later it was consecrated as a Roman Catholic Church named Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Martiri (the Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs).
The original Pantheon was built as a rectangular temple by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa between 27 and 25 BC. Agrippa's Pantheon was destroyed by a fire in 80 AD. The present Pantheon was constructed about 125 AD by Emperor Hadrian. Byzantine Emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Boniface IV who converted the Pantheon into the Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs in 609, while conversion of Pantheon into a church saved it from pillage.
Giant concrete dome with a central opening (oculus) named the Great Eye is 43,3 meters (142 feet) in diameter and is the largest masonry dome in the world. The dome gets thinner as it approaches the Great Eye at the top of the dome with a diameter of 8,7 m (29 feet). Dome's diameter is equal to its height from the floor. The portico is supported by three rows of eight 14 meters (46 feet) high granite Corinthian columns.
Following its conversion into a church the Pantheon was adorned with paintings, sculptures and paintings by numerous prominent artists such as Melozzo da Forlì, Pietro Paolo Bonzi, Bernardino Cametti, Andrea Camassei, Francesco Cozza and many others. Pantheon also contains the tombs of painters Raphael and Annibale Caracci, architect Baldassare Peruzzi and several Italian Kings, including Vittorio Emmanuele II, the first king of united Italy.
