Pantheon (Figure 4), as a miracle lasting through ancient Rome, medieval, Renaissance and modern day, was thoroughly studied in Chapter twenty “On the Pantheon, Called the Rotonda Today” of Book IV. During his time of studying, the structure was still fairly close to its original condition. So the drawings by Palladio became a quite reliable source for Jefferson to build his ideas upon it. Palladio appreciated the Pantheon maximizing the lighting across from wall to wall and from the pavement to its highest opening to create a sense of “rounded world” within its rectangular structure. The dome, according to this “rounded world” theory, was still the largest unreinforced concrete structure with a central opening (oculus) to the sky after almost 2,000 years from its birth. He also discovered that the entire Pantheon is mainly constructed by the highest order Corinthian, which stated the level of authority that Pantheon represented in ancient Roman culture. He elaborately explained ten woodcuts to show all the exceptional elements by plans, façades, and interior elevations.
Besides Pantheon as an example, he praised other Greek and Roman temples in his Book IV on scared…show more content… “Construction began in 1769 according to Jefferson's first design, which was completed when he left for Europe in 1784” . In 1770, Jefferson moved into the completed South Pavilion of Monticello. He worked out the rest of the design there. The materials, such as the brick, were locally made and the plants for the garden were from his lands. Even though he couldn’t do a stone structure like authentic Roman architecture, he still stayed true to the idea of building within local context. Later, Monticello was slightly remodeled after his trip from Paris. “Work on a new design for remodeling and enlarging the house began in 1796 and was complete by 1809” . The dome room, so called “sky-room”, was the most dramatic change in the new
