PANTHEON DE ROMA

UMA MIRÍADE DE DETALHES

Abstract

The Pantheon in Rome is one of the most iconic buildings in Western architecture. Built as a temple dedicated to all deities, it was founded in 27BC. by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and later rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian presumably in 124AD. During the Middle Ages the building was converted into a Christian church dedicated to Saint Mary and Martyrs, a function that remains today. It is, therefore, the only building in Ancient Rome that has remained practically intact and uninterruptedly in use for religious purposes since the moment of its foundation. However, although little of its internal spatial structure has changed, the building has undergone a series of changes over the years. Built in a section of Rome called Campus Martius (Field of Mars), this part of the city was a floodplain prone to regular flooding from the Tiber River, which deposited layer after layer of sediment. As the ground around the Pantheon rose more than 8 meters, the floor level of the Pantheon sank increasingly below the ground level of the surrounding city. In addition to this lowered entrance, it is possible to see in representations of the building made by the Dutchman Maerten Van Heemskerck dating from the 16th century that its front facade had a central bell tower, only seven of the eight columns and part of the tympanum was also missing due to the location of the building. Chapter Room was attached to the east side of the Pantheon. In the 17th century, Pope Urban VII Barberini commissioned Francesco Borromini to design a wooden replacement for the bronze beams and a suitable column to replace the ugly brick wall in the portico. One of the justifications for this reform was the need for bronze (the last known example of an all-metal structure built before the modern era) to make the Baldaquino of São Pedro. On the left side of the entrance is a marble plaque with Latin words justifying Pope Urban VIII's appropriation of the ancient bronze roof trusses. Part of the inscription refers to the destroyed bronze lattices as "a useless and almost forgotten adornment". Today it is known that this plaque is nothing more than a propaganda ploy by the Pope to cover up the real destination of this bronze: to provide more cannons for Castel Sant'Angelo. Furthermore, the central bell tower, added in the Middle Ages, was removed and replaced by two others placed on the pediment. This significantly altered their appearance and provoked negative reactions from the public: soon people began to call the towers “donkey ears”. Finally in 1883, Pope Pius IX removed the bell towers giving us the external image we see today. This photographic essay aims to illustrate these modifications undertaken in the 17th century as an architectural record of the little-known Borrominian work.