The Pantheon and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome
The Pantheon and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome are acknowledged to be wonderful architectural pieces which performed the great religious purpose. The time and effort that went into the building process of those architectural monuments display the cultural emphasis on quality and perfectionism. Additionally the placement of the buildings in a prominent location in central Rome outlines the importance given to the worship and honoring of God.
The Pantheon is the best-preserved of Rome’s ancient temples and the only one which is still used as a place of worship. The word “Pantheon” is Greek meaning to honor all gods (Pinto 44). The Pantheon was originally completed or dedicated, according to its inscription, in 27 B.C., by Augustus’ friend, general, colleague, and son-in-law, Agrippa, victor over Antony and Cleopatra at Actium (Pinto 46). Surrounded by the hum of modern Roman life, its time-blackened mass, with the forest of dark columns which forms its portico confronts the visitor at unexpected moments with a sudden vision of immemorial age. The narrow streets leading to it seem to deflect the eye rather than to attract it toward the great building lost in their labyrinth.
The temple was dedicated especially to Mars and Venus, the patrons of the Julian family, to which Caesar and Augustus belonged; statues of these deities were set among those in the niches of the interior. The statue of Venus in this temple, according to Pliny, wore in her ears the cut halves of one of two famous pearls which had belonged to Cleopatra; the queen had dissolved and drunk the other, says the author, to win a wager from Antony (Dutemple 55).
The Pantheon was burned twice; after the second fire, about A.D. 110, it was