The masterwork in Roman Period

THE PANTHEON
Pantheon, Rome118-28 C.E Marble, brick and concrete

As the name suggests, the Pantheon ( PAN-thee-ahn); are designed and built by Hadrian, honored all the gods. The structure brought together Roman engineering , unprecedented scale. Its is are the one of the greatest temple architecture built in Roman ancient art.

Untill the mid-ninteenth century, only two buildings had equalled the span of its dome, and during the Middle Ages, people suspected that demons might be holding up the roof of its pagan temple. Around the circular interior statues of the gods stood in niches (NIHCH-ehz) in the massive walls. Corinthin colums add grace and lightness to the lower level. Heavy horizontal moldings accentuate the feeling of open space under the huge dome.

The dome itself reaches 143 feet (44meters) in both  diameter and height (from the floor to the oculus), or eye, the round opening at the top of the  the dome). The circular walls supporting the dome stand 20 feet (6 meters) thick and 70 feet (21 meters) high. Square coffers on the underside of the dome give an added sense of lightness and reflect the framework into which concrete was poured. Originally the dome's interior had gilding to suggest "the golden dome of heaven".

In both plan and cross-section  the pantheon describe a perfect circle. From the interior, we see a simple, sparsely adorned cylinder capped by a gently curving dome. We enter via a porch in the  Hellenistic style with graceful Corinthian columns. Originally the porch  had a series of steps and a rectangular of a large, more complex orginal design. 

Inside , both the scale and the detail overwhelm, but the way in which practical problems have been solved impresses equally. The drum and dome consist of solid monolithic concrete reinforced with bands of vitrified tile. Arches incorporated in the concrete collect and distribute th vertical gravity loads to the drum. The wall of the 20-foot-thick drum has alternating rectangular and curved  niches cut into it thus performing a series of massive radial buttresses. Drains cut into the slighty concave floor of the building  carry away  any rain the falls through the oculus above.  In the most Eygptian and Greek architecture, the focus rests on mass-the solids of the building. Here, depsite the scale and beauty of the solids,the vast openness of the interior strikes us. Rather than functioning like a conventional  dome, the Pantheon behaves like a circular arrayof arches , with the weight of the rings holding the end of each arch in place.


Refferences :
Website:
1. https://www.google.com/search?q=the+pantheon&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj209iVsYvXAhVFLI8KHfgUDA0Q_AUICigB#imgrc=OndKcYBDWoirzM:

Book : 
1.Sporre, Dennis J, 2005. The Creative Impulse An Introduction to the Arts. Seventh Edition. 2005.Florance : Pearson Prentice Hall.

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