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The inscription over the architrave records the fact that originally this building and
the adjacent Basilica of Neptune were
built by Augustus’s nephew, Agrippa, between 27 and 25 b.C. In reality a French 19th
century scholar discovered thanks to a careful examination of the stamps impressed on the
bricks that the building had been entirely rebuilt in the time of Emperor Hadrian. No one
knows why Hadrian had the name of Agrippa inscribed
 on the façade of the
new building: we only know that he had the habit of omitting to inscribe his name on
monuments he had built, excepting only the buildings erected during the reign of his
predecessor Trajan. The Pantheon was transformed into a church because the Byzantine
Emperor Phocas (609) gave it to Pope Boniface IV, who called it Santa Maria ad Martyres. From that time the aediculae
which had housed the statues of the gods were transformed into Christian altars, and
cartloads of bones from the catacombs, which were supposed to belong to
"martyrs". In one of the ample niches between the pilons there is an
"Annunciation" by the 15th century painter Melozzo da Forlì. In
front of each pilon is an altar with an aedicula, one of which houses a statue called the
"Madonna del Sasso", which marks the site of Raphael's tomb. The fact of being transformed into a
church did not save the Pantheon from depredations. The great Bernini himself used the bronze of the
roofing structures of the portico for his own means. From the 18th century
onwards the building was subject to "restorations", not all very successful, and
the shacks and stalls that crowded the portico and surrounded the outside walls of the
Pantheon were removed, while excavations were begun to isolate the monument from the
neighbouring buildings. The Pantheon holds various tombs of famous artists, and the first
Kings of Italy.
Accessibility
The Pantheon is accessible to wheel-chair users, as a ramp has been placed on the left to
reach the portico, and there are no architectural barriers inside.
in the photo: drawing of Pantheon façade |
