Pantheon

Welcome to the heart of ancient Rome, here in the vibrant Piazza della Rotonda. You are standing before the Pantheon, arguably the most complete ancient Roman building in existence. As you look up at that massive portico with its sixteen granite columns, notice the inscription in large bronze letters. It claims that Marcus Agrippa, the right-hand man of the first emperor, Augustus, built this temple during his third consulate. However, look closer at the bricks. History tells a different story. While Agrippa did build the original temple on this spot around twenty-five Before Common Era, the building you see today was almost entirely reconstructed by Emperor Hadrian nearly one hundred and fifty years later. Hadrian, in a rare move of imperial humility, decided to put the original builder’s name back on the facade rather than his own. Take a moment to soak in the scale of this porch before we move inside to witness the true engineering miracle of the Roman world.