Rome / The Pantheon

On the 9th of June we ventured towards the Pantheon which was a temple to all the Gods that was built in 118 AD and restored by the famous Hadrian in 125 AD.

This is the Pantheon.When we got there we walked through the enormous pillars
and into the rotunda of the Pantheon. There was one word which could describe it all... that word was "WOW!" (Actually there were two words if you count "Supercalafragalistickexpialadocious")
(The things we are holding to our ears are electronic tour guides.)

The reason we had a reason to say "WOW", was that the reason wow is reasonable to say if we have a good reason. The reason was the fact that the enormity of it had us all gobsmacked.
The Pantheon has a dome in the middle of the roof which is 43 metres in diametre.
Legend has it that that seven devils escaped the Christian site and one particularily large demon struggled to break free and created the great oculus (hole in the roof) in the centre of the dome.

This is a picture of the great oculous in the dome.

The Pantheon is the site of burial for kings of Italy including King Emmanuel who was often called the Father of Italy responsible for uniting the states of Italy.

The Pantheon, in 609 AD was renamed by the Catholic Church and called the "Santa Maria Of The Martyres" (martyrs were people who died for their beliefs) whose bones were buried beneath the temple itself.

The interior of the Pantheon still holds church services twice per weekend as well as on the anniversary of the death of King Emmanuel.

Many historians beleive the Pantheon is more a treasure of antiquity than anything else in Rome, including the Colosseum.

The one other thing I did today was throw coins into the Trevi Fountain which, legend has it, means that I will come back to Rome.What an absolutely tremendous fountain.