The Pantheon

Tuesday, we walked (crutched and wheelchaired) to the Pantheon, in the center of historic Rome, for drinks at a rooftop bar and then dinner at a restaurant beside the ancient church. 

Delightful elephant and obelisk by Bernini in Piazza della Minerva,
location of Hotel Minerva's rooftop bar. 

From the roof: The obelisk again and church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Hotel Minerva rooftop bar

Domes and ringing church bells at 6 pm

Brad aspetti ... :-) 

The Pantheon was completed in A.D 125 by emperor Hadrian to replace an earlier 27 B.C. structure, destroyed by fire. As the name implies, many say it was originally a temple to all the Roman gods. Since the 7th century, however, it has been a Catholic church, St. Mary and the Martyrs. It is also known as Santa Maria Rotonda, and the square in front is called Piazza della Rotonda. 

Dinner at the Hostaria Pantheon, Piazza della Rotunda (column of Pantheon at right) 

Anthony Doerr in his book, Four Seasons in Rome, says this:

When you see the Pantheon for the first time, your mind caves in. … The doors are twenty-one feet high and weigh eight tons each. The sixteen columns on its porch are thirty-nine feet high and weigh about sixty tons each, roughly the weight of two fully-loaded eighteen-wheelers, crushed and compacted into a cylinder five feet across …  quarried in eastern Egypt, dragged on sledges to the Nile, rowed across the Mediterranean, barged up the Tiber, and carted through the streets of Rome. They are ocean grey, flecked with mica, glassy and cold; it is impossible to be close to one and not want to touch it.

The Pantheon’s dome is still the largest non-reinforced concrete dome in the world. As Brad pointed out, Seattle’s Kingdome was the world’s largest reinforced concrete dome until its implosion in 2000 to make way for two new sports stadiums ... 

View of Pantheon dome from hotel rooftop 

Notice the railing and stairs to the oculus ... 

We sat after dinner, just watching the busy square and the dark, looming Pantheon closed for the night. It seemed to be contemplating us all. Police in their guard car out front. Tourists photographing themselves or lying on their backs under the porch, observing the grandeur. Italian business people walking home with their briefcases. Roman families out for a passeggiato and maybe ice cream for the kids. Immigrant men hawking toys--wands that made bright-green light patterns on the cobbles and little bright-blue-lit LED shuttlecocks they shot high in the air and that helicoptered slowly back down, over-and-over-again.