Pantheon

The best preserved and mysterious of ancient monuments. Built in honor of Augustus a few years before the birth of Christ. The Pantheon was converted into a church around 609 AD dedicated to the Modonna and therefore cherished by the pontiffs.

A cylindrical wall, six meters thick, support the dome, which is 43.30 meters high and wide. It is the biggest vault ever made of masonry and is bigger even than St. Peter's.

Only from the interior can the true scale and beauty be appreciated. 

Inside there is a great niche of mauve marble and six smaller niches around it, inlayed in multicolored marble.

The interplay of various colors fills the temple with a haunting light that penetrates the interior from its only source of light, from the opening at the very top of the dome.  This building also houses tombs of famous artists such as Raffaello and Annibale Carracci and some Italian Monarch.