The Placer herald., 1856-08-02
The Pantheon.

| Inc fanCneOn.
The Pantheon is the best preserved of the
monuments of ancient Rome, and indeed the
most perfect monument of ancient times. 1t
is still a wonder of architecture, quite faultless
in its beautiful and grand proportions; and,
notwithstanding its simplicity it never fails
to excite the admiration of every one whose
eyes are SO happy as to rest upon it. An
artist of Rome whose route to his studio led
him by it every day, once remarked to me he
never passed it without stopping to admire its
magnificent portico and entering to contem-
plate its unrivaled rotunda. 1t formerly
stood in the midst of the Campus Martius,
surrounded by the buildings belonging to the
Therma of Agrippa, of which it properly
formed part, was reached by flight of
steps, all of which must have added greatly
to its effect. Now it is one of the tilthiest
quarters of Rome, and is surrounded by some
the meanest novels of the modern city, many
of which are built against its walls, blacken
ing them with their smoke.
The present government, however, are
seeking to redeem it from its degrading as
sociatons, by purchasing and tearing down
the adjoining buildings, with the design of
leaving it an open square. They cannot
secure its former elevation. BY some strange
accretion, the level of the ancient city is
several feet below the modern SOIL the pave
ment of the Forum itself being twenty feet
under ground. The Pantheon has thus been
brought down to level with the surround
ing streets, if not below them
Its portico which is regarded as model
in architecture is l 10 feet long, Al in depth
and is composed of Is Corinthian columns of
oriental granite, each one of which is single
height, and 10 feet in circumference With
the exception ofthree whcl were placed from
other buildings about two centuries ago, they
stand just as they were erected bv Agrippa
81 ynoro hAfnrA tho nh";s.;on era The entab-
lature and pediment are still perfect, and the
freze bears the following inscription, extend
ing long the entire front: IN. Agrippa, L. F.
Cos. Tertivm Fecit."-This inscription suffi-
ciently defines its date.
Crossing the portico we enter the building
by the massive bronze DOORS acknowledged by
the best authorities to be the same set up by
Agrippa. Although nearly forty feet in hight
and having swung upon their hinges for
nineteen centuries, they may still be moved
by the hand of child The aperture for the
door reveals the thickness of the walls, some
twenty feet of solid masonry, which accounts
in part for the preservation OF the structure.
The building itself is circular, ! 73 feet in di-
ameer or more than 400 feet in crcumfer
ence. The walls rise to the height of 20
feet when they pass into one vast dome, the
centre of which is l43 feet above the pave
ment. This dome in its simplicity and gran
1our ,c ip,nracciva tbo, +h of g. Da
ter's and there is one peculiar feature which
adds such a charm to that impression as |
have never found in contemplating any other
building. The dome is open at its centre ap-
erture being 81 feet in diameter 1t was
never closed even by glass, and the storms Of
nearly two thousand years have beaten
through it and fallen upon the pavement be-
low. This light seem defect in the struc
ture, but it constitutes its most beautiful if
not its grandest feature. The circular walls
are unbroken even by windows, and when the
massive bronze doors are closed behind us as
we enter, this Aperture in the dome is the only
source of light and communicates directly
with the heavens above. We look up and
see the clouds floating by, or gaze in the blue
ether, while the whole lower world is shut
out by walls which no earthly sound can
penetrate.
The poetry and sublimity of this concep-
ton for temple may be imagined. 1t ex-
cudes all things terrestrial and opens heaven
alone to the worshpers, and that too with
out any intervening medium.
An anecdote characteristic Of Roman NOR
ais is related of this part of the Pantheon.
In manuscript narrative of the sack of Rome
preserved at the Vatican, it is recorded that
Charles ", when he visited Rome in 1886,
wished to ascend the building, which he did
looking in through the aperture from above.
young Roman who had been ordered to
accompany him, afterwards confessed to his
father that he WAS strongly tempted to push
the monarch over upon the pavement below,
of nearly $50 feet, in revenge for the sack Of
the city few years before. The willy old
Italian said:
my son such things should be done and
not talked about"
The Pantheon has been stript of all it's
costly ornaments, leaving only its simple
granduer to delight the eye. Formerly the
outer walls we're faced with marble, which is
nov all gone. The vast done was covered