Pantheon

The Pantheon is my favourite of all Roma’s monumental buildings. Inside, it’s perfect symmetry, sky-light, shining marble, soft colours and exquisite acoustics have blown me away on each of four visits over the decades.
 
Unfortunately, since my last visit, the custodians have roped off the middle section with a blue ribbon so you can no longer get directly under the apex to gaze up through the amazing hole at the top.  I guess it’s another small example of the impact of fellow tourists on each other and locals.  I feature more ICM images to evoke the flowing crowd circuiting the building, and I really enjoyed the way the blue ribbon flared to corral them .. it’s surprises like this that keep me exploring the ICM mode.

It would be a more contemplative space without the crowds ... one man in a white hat certainly found his peace there (see 3rd Extra Photo).

‘Extra Photos’ also has an ICM and a crisp image of the roof for comparison.

The Pantheon viewed from outside is, in my opinion, clumsy and eclectic by comparison to the inside. The mix of columns, the square vestibule jutting out, and the round masterpiece don’t have the same simple elegance of the structure when viewed from inside.  So I enjoyed doing some more ICM mischief outside to blur the hulk a bit!  However, the Extras end with a close-up of stone work visible near the top of the dome (see last Extra Photo) which speaks to years of make-over and ‘bricolage’ … in a sociological and construction sense … but also with bricks (… apologies for a bad pun!).