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April 4, 2019

 

Pantheon and Trevi fountain

 

On Thursday April 4 we had scheduled an afternoon tour of squares and fountains. However the rain got us again and so we had to change our tour. Our Tours by Locals tour guide was of course very accomodating. We called Ennio Giannecchini and agreed to tour as much indoor stuff as we could to avoid the rain. So we decided on the Catacombs, Trevi Fountain, and the pantheon.

The  Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome.  It is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world.  The fountain has appeared in several notable films, including Roman Holiday and Three Coins in the Fountain.   There was such a crowd around the fountain that we didn't expect to get up close but Ennio knew the ropes and got us right up to the fountain and snapped a picture of both Lou and Carol simultaneously throwing coins over their shoulders and into the fountain.  Unfortunately you will have to take our word for it because the pictures were taken on Carol's phone which died 3 days later, losing all the photos she had taken of our journey so far.

Scroll down past the pictures below for a history of the Pantheon.
 

 

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon exterior

looking up at the sky through the ceiling inside the Pantheon

Pantheon interior

History: Pantheon

The Pantheon, 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 126 AD. 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.

The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43 metres (142 ft).

It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history and, since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been in use as a church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" (Latin: Sancta Maria ad Martyres) but informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda". The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. The Pantheon is a state property, managed by Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism through the Polo Museale del Lazio; in 2013 it was visited by over 6 million people.

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.

Rome 2019

 

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