Contemplating its severe classical forms, living together normally with buildings in the modern city produces a strange sensation of anachronism. And not without emotion do they cross the huge bronze doors to enter under the dome raised by Adriano 1900 years ago.
This miracle was possible thanks to the Pantheon which was the first classic building transformed into a church: in the year 608, the Byzantine emperor Focas (owner of Rome at that time) offered it to Pope Boniface IV. In this way, the ancient temple dedicated "to all the gods of Rome" became the church of Santa Maria ad martyres, dedicated to the martyrs of persecution. A huge amount of bones from all the Catacombs of Rome was transferred to the new church.
Although the Pantheon preserves in its frontispiece the name of Agrippa, which erected the first Pantheon in the time of Augustus, the building we see today was built by the emperor Hadrian in the second century. The spherical shape of its interior (the dome is a perfect half sphere) should reflect the perfection of the Roman Empire, destined to last forever.
The Pantheon is one of the peaks of Roman architecture, perfect in the balance and harmony of its forms and its impeccable