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.
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Trevi Fountain
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Pantheon exterior
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looking up at the sky through the ceiling inside the Pantheon
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Pantheon interior
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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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