Pantheon

The Pantheon is actually the only building from ancient Rome that's been in continual use since its construction. [Citation: Rick Steves, and I have no idea where he gets his stuff from, so that could be a lie.] It was originally build by Marcus Agrippa in 27 BC, but the one we see today was rebuilt by Hadrian, one of my favorite emperors, in 120 AD. Its dome, which is 142 feet from floor to ceiling, was a model for the dome in Florence (which I've seen), St. Peter's (which I've also seen), and our capitol building (which I would be ashamed if I hadn't seen). From, the outside, it has impressive columns and huge gilded letters that say, Marcus Agrippa built this. He didn't, of course, but Hadrian wanted to preserve the prestige, I guess. From the inside, a single skylight lets down the only illumination the room gets, sending beams of sun from the sky to the corners of the room from the oculus.

Now, this building may have been in use so long that it's sunk a couple of inches below all the streets of Rome outside, but it hasn't always had the same use. The Pantheon was a temple to all the gods and the nooks that now hold statues to Mary and the saints used to hold altars for various gods, with the altar to Jupiter, the big shot of the Roman gods, at the place where the main altar now stands. It actually stayed in use as a temple for a couple of centuries- it wasn't converted to a church until 609.

I would love to say that there's an air of the ancient in the Pantheon, that it has preserved all the history of the other temples that have since fallen into ruins in the forum, bearing witness to the once powerful Roman gods. But since the oculus lets in rain as well as light, the floor gets redone every once in a while, and the statues are all kept clean and new looking. Much more modern people are entombed there- Raphael sits in a recess beside his Madonna and Child that he designed for his tomb, and some of Italy's most recent kings while away the hours of eternity there as well. That, combined with the announcement for Silence, please, in a variety of languages over the loudspeaker every few minutes, generally kills the ambiance of the ancient.

Raphael's tomb. The man had taste.

I'm not saying that it's not a wonderful sacred place. It's just one of those sacred spaces that seem a little less sacred because of the number of people in it treating it like a museum, or maybe a glorified bench. People approached the altar and sat down in the pews in front of it only to pull out a map or a guildebook and plan the next stage of their journey. Some talked over the announcement for silence, please. There was a veritable line of people in front of the altar, waiting to have their picture taken.

And how would you use this as a church, anyway? Is there a place for a sacistry around the back? There's no organ, no choir, though I've found that masses don't require songs. I'm so used to the processional space afforded by a longitudinal church with its rows of pews and columns, I'm not even sure where a priest would come in or go from here. It's more like a chapel than a church, made primarily for private devotion, of which there was not much while I was there.

I paused for a while in front of Raphael's tomb because it was lovely and because I admire the painter. I paused for a while in front of a few of the statues beacuse they caught my eye more than because I had a reason to pray in front of them. But really, I would have felt more comfortable sitting outside and leaning against one of the columns, much more familiar to me, out in the plain air and away from these imposing figures ignored by the people who ran from place to place snapping shots with their cameras.

Why do we visit churches anyway?