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Pantheon |
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written
by liu9700 / 10.24.2005 |
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Part 1: |
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With every sunrise the world is created anew under the lofting dome of the Pantheon. This is what I discovered during an early morning visit. At this time of the day a golden shield of sunlight hits the dome high, its shape an ellipse across the steeply sloped surface. Quiet and empty in the soft morning light I feel as though nothing could have existed before this moment. My view was unobstructed by the usual crowds and I could see how the architectural pieces of the Pantheon play off of each other to complete one fluid and profound experience. I took a seat on one of the inviting wooden benches that line the interior and had a moment to gaze upon its immensity. The building is very intimate at this hour, it listens and consoles, and when I was finally able to pull myself from its grandeur I felt refreshed and ready to receive the challenges the day would bring.
Midday the Pantheon is a building. True, a grand building, but a building all the same. During my visit it was populated by more people than I would have like to share the space with. Many were chatting loudly and happily snapping away (flash enabled), immortalizing the already immortal structure. The circle and square motif was all but lost and remained only on the walls. Unable to view the colorful and delicately shaped marble on the floor my attention turned upwards to the dome. The sunlight shield was now circular and hit much lower on the wall. I saw the sky and passing clouds. A sudden urge hit me to return outdoors, to see the sky unframed and feel on my skin the shield’s golden light. At this time the Pantheon exists to display the glories of the world and to encourage the visitor to experience and appreciate them for themselves.
There is something surreal to being inside an enclosed public space at night, especially one you have come to know during the daytime. The electric lights flooded every corner of the Pantheon and gave the interior a yellow hue. I could only imagine this space 2000 years ago, when the oculus would have been dotted with stars set against a darkened dome. Today light pollution from both inside the building and the surrounding city makes the oculus nothing more than a blacked disc in the brightly illuminated ceiling. There were fewer tourists at this time, but still it was nothing like the morning. I didn’t stay for long, the space was not very inviting. While I was there I focused my attention on the pieces at eyelevel, the paintings and Raphael’s tomb. These objects seemed to be more of a display at night, stealing attention away from the structure of the building. Stepping out into the piazza I felt as though I had returned to normality. It seemed the crowds of tourists had relocated here to the street cafés and gelaterrias. I continued forward and down one of the narrow streets that empties into the piazza. Turning around I could see the entrance of the Pantheon shining out like a beacon in the night, not terribly attractive in itself but serving as an indication of the nightlife taking place just outside its doors.
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Part 2: |
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I heard thunder, grabbed my coat, bolted out of the Rome Center and ran to the Pantheon. I beat the rain by only a few minutes. At first I could not see any raindrops falling at all, although I noticed that the floor was becoming wet. It appeared as though the fluid was exuded by the marble itself. As the rain began to fall more heavily the drops became visible, but only in the circle of the oculus. Soon a small round pool formed on the ground, which gradually took on the appearance of boiling water as the rain intensified. At this point it was raining hard enough that I could see a constant stream descending from the oculus before me. When the storm finally calmed down the raindrops once again became lost against the marble walls. This whole event had a very visible influence on the visitors, who formed a circle behind the velvet ropes around the growing pool of water. This was a fairly amazing sight in itself, since usually the visitors inside of the Pantheon are spread homogenously across the space. One thing I have noticed about the Pantheon is that the experience, at a given time of the day, is pretty much the same regardless of where you stand in it. It is a very contained space; there is no part of it that obstructs another. The focus is on the oculus, a point practically equidistant from anywhere the visitor can stand. Piazza Navona is structured very differently. To obtain the full experience here you must walk its length, pausing at each of the fountains to circle it and observe Bernini’s intricacies. It is physically impossible to take in the entire space at one time. The focus is certainly the Fountain of the Four Rivers, which stands taller than the other two. Piazza di Sant’Ignazio reminds me of the back wall of the Palazzo Pio, whose foundation were built over the Theater of Pompey. It has a similar bow in one of its bordering buildings which serves as the focus of the space. I found it impossible walk across the piazza linearly, but felt compelled to follow the curve of the wall. In each of these three spaces I sat for a significant amount of time and observed the movement of people through them. It is interesting how visibly architecture can direct traffic without the notice of the visitor.
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