Pantheon, Rome

The Pantheon (UK:, US:; Latin: Pantheum, from Ancient Greek (Pantheion) '[temple] of all the gods') is an ancient temple in Rome, Italy, originally built under emperor Augustus (27 BC–AD 14) and reconstructed under Hadrian (117–138); since AD 609, it is a Catholic church called the Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs (Basilica Santa Maria ad Martyres). It is perhaps the most famous, and architecturally most influential, rotunda. The current Pantheon was built on the site of an earlier temple, which had been commissioned by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa during the reign of Augustus. After the original burnt down, the present building was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated c. AD 126. Its date of construction is uncertain, because Hadrian chose to re-inscribe the new temple with Agrippa's original date inscription from the older temple. The building is round in plan, except for the portico with large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome made from Roman concrete (also called opus caementicium), with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and

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