Pantheon Research Paper

Reasons why these features of architecture were chosen:

The meaning of the word ‘Pantheon’ is ‘contains all gods’ with ‘pan’ meaning all and ‘theon’ meaning gods. The interior of the Pantheon contains altars to individual gods hence the name.

The dome in the interior of the Pantheon is round, inclusive and an all-encompassing continuum. These all symbolize the idea of heaven or the dome of heaven. The circular form contains sculptures of gods and deified emperors thus giving the idea of heaven where they all reside. The reason a dome was used was to give the Romans a representation of heaven on earth. The light that falls inside the dome form the sun through the oculus manifests the movements of the heavens on earth as the earthly sphere meets

This was for symbolism and convince of carving the marble, as the builders pleased. There was an extensive use of cement and concrete to build the dome. There were different compositions of concrete used, however the exact recipe is unknown, as it got lost in history along the way. This contributes to the lack of primary source evidence. Towards the top of the dome the cement used contains traces of volcanic rock. Volcanic rock is light and brittle and it was used at the top of the dome to prevent the dome from caving in and collapsing on

All three buildings have a dome. The architects who designed the Il Duomo di Firenze and the Jefferson memorial have stated that they looked to the Pantheon for inspiration. Filippo Brunelleschi the architect who designed the dome of the Il Duomo di Firenze travelled to Rome before construction began sometime during the beginning of the early 15th century. He also faced some technical issues as to how the dome would stand by itself without collapsing, and looked at the Pantheon to see how the Roman architects managed to accomplish this task. Both the dome of the Pantheon and the Il Duomo di Firenze are made out of bricks. However the similarities end there. The dome of the Il Duomo di Firenze has a wooden structure to support it, which is then covered by a double shell of marble and sandstone followed by a layer of bricks. This is the largest brick dome ever constructed. Whereas the dome of the Pantheon just contained a single shell of different compositions of cement and concrete depending on the height of the dome – the highest parts would contain a light mixture cement and concrete so the dome would stay standing. Unlike the Pantheon the Il Duomo di Firenze does not contain any form of columns. However the exterior of the Il Duomo di Firenze is similar to