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PantheonThe Pantheon was probably built by Emperor Hadrian in AD 118 who modestly attributes the temple to AGRIPPA (see the huge inscription on the front of the building). Emperor Marcus Agrippa (son-in-law of Augustus) built the original temple on the site between 27 and 25 BC. It houses the tombs of Raphael and some Kings of modern Italy. Light can only enter the Pantheon via the large circular hole in the ceiling called the oculus. The ceiling's structure is made using hollow decorateve coffers to reduce its weight. The walls of the section supporting the dome are 6m thick. Partially for this reason it is the best preserved building from ancient Rome. The Pantheon is open from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on holidays that fall on weekdays except for Christmas Day, New Year's Day and May 1, when it is closed. Admission is free. Don't confuse Pantheon with the Parthenon. A tourist once asked a policeman the directions to the Parthenon, and he was given a complicated list of directions to get there.... More details about the Pantheon, Rome The Pantheon is one of the great spiritual buildings of the world. It was built as a Roman temple and later consecrated as a Catholic Church. Its monumental porch originally faced a rectangular colonnaded temple courtyard and now enfronts the smaller Piazza della Rotonda. Through great bronze doors, one enters one great circular room. The interior volume is a cylinder above which rises the hemispherical dome. Opposite the door is a recessed semicircular apse, and on each side are three additional recesses, alternately rectangular and semicircular, separated from the space under the dome by paired monolithic columns. The only natural light enters through an unglazed oculus at the center of the dome and through the bronze doors to the portico. As the sun moves, striking patterns of light illuminate the walls and floors of porphyry, granite and yellow marbles. The Pantheon is also known as Chiesa di Santa Maria ad Martyres
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