![]() ![]() The setting summer solstice sun forms this axis:įrom the Pantheon, one can see the summer solstice sun set behind the mausoleum of Hadrian. This summer solstice is a yearly event that reveals an important alignment of monuments. The sun reaches closest to the center of the Pantheon on the summer solstice. Beyond that on this northern axis is the obelisk of Ramesses II, moved there from the Circus Maximus in 1589. Due north of that the Mausoleum of Augustus. North of the Pantheon is the obelisk of Ramses II from the sun temple in Heliopolis. The Pantheon’s location and orientation relates to buildings around it. The walls are 19 ft thick and distribute the great weight on 3 tiers of arches. The architect Apollodoros was one great critic of Hadrian (who Hadrian later put to death.)Īt 142 ft diameter (43m), the dome is the largest unreinforced masonry dome in the world. The clash of two totally separate things certainly must have riled the conservative sensibilities of Rome. He attached a traditional Greek temple entrance to a domed rotunda. Seated under the heavenly dome, he would be the son of a god, surrounded by the heavens.” c A massive building program would please the citizens, and it would also please him…. “Architecture was his particular passion. As a student of architecture himself, Hadrian gathered ideas during his travels and studies. The new Pantheon was completed about 128 AD by Emperor Hadrian with a radical new design. It probably was a traditional round temple. Little is known about this original building, except that it contained statues of gods and probably was south facing. It was called Pan “all” – Theos “gods”, meaning a temple to “all the gods”. Traditional Greek & New Roman – The first Pantheon was built in 25 BC by general Marcus Aggripa. The openings for shops in the Market became niches for statues to the gods in the Pantheon. The need for light and air in the Market contributed to the Pantheon’s expansive feeling. The arch and barrel vault were constructed to a monumental scale, with the same construction technique as the Pantheon. Since they were built just a few years before the Pantheon, they clearly record the kind of design and construction that Hadrian’s architects knew well and perhaps even worked on.” b “The Markets show that vaulted, brick-faced architecture had become fully accepted and could be used in almost any kind of building. Trajan’s Market – The same people who built the Pantheon probably built the Trajan Markets. It is a synthesis of construction techniques. The dome of the Pantheon stacks in ribs like the Tholos to form a drum, but then a proper concrete dome like that of the common circular temple completes the dome. But the Pantheon was not funeral in nature. The Pantheon uses the same Corinthian columns. Corinthian columns in these temples represent rebirth and youth. Here they offered sacrifices to protect life on earth and the family. Round temples were typically dedicated to Vesta. The roots of this transformation can be seen at Hadrian’s Temple of Apollo in Tivoli. The Pantheon’s columns switch places with the cella wall, which emphasizes the structure of the interior rather than the exterior space. The dome is much larger in proportion to the columns, forming a sphere that fits entirely inside the space. They held up a dome with a diameter equal to the height of the columns.The Pantheon changed this. Corinthian columns were freestanding or surrounded a circular wall. The design language was detailed by Vitruvius. Round Temples – Circular temples were often used in Greece. The Pantheon revealed the dome shape both in the inside and on the outside. In both cases the function was for burial. These burial mounds were dug all around the world from the earliest of times and reached all scales of size.The interior of the Tholos was domed, while the exterior of the Tumulus was domed. The other kind of dome was the Tumulus mound. ![]() The dome in this tomb has an impressive diameter of 27 ft (14.5m). Concentric slabs of stone were stacked like a beehive to form a pointed dome. The Treasury of Atreus was constructed around 1250 BC. The Tholos was an underground domed tomb used since Neolithic times. There were two kinds of domes before the Pantheon. They did’t fit well into a city site, and details such as the roof were tricky to figure out. It was difficult to separate rooms and provide an entrance to a round space. It was a challenge to make circular buildings. Innovations of Design Funeral Dome – Domes had previously always been kept small. ![]()
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