When I was in Italy last month I took 493 photos just in Rome. I took 1303 photos over the course of 15 days and 4 different countries. So, as you can imagine, I am still sorting through photos and picking out my favorites.


Tonight I came across this picture of the Dome of the Pantheon in Rome (below). If you do not know what the pantheon is allow me to provide some interesting facts:

-The name comes from two Greek words pan, "everything" and teon "divine".

-The building was originally dedicated as a temple to the twelve Olympian gods. It was built on the top of an earlier temple designed by Agrippa in 27 B.C. which was destroyed in 80 AD which was then rebuilt by Domitian but then burned and was destroyed again in 110 AD. In 127 AD Emperor Hadrian rebuilt it.

-Its architecture is a miracle in design, as its top is as high as it’s diameter, 43,3 meters exactly. The Construction of the Dome is so precise that if a globe of the same diameter were constructed to fit inside of it, it would fit perfectly only leaving a few millimeters of space around the sides.

-The hole (oculus) in the dome that is the only source of light into the Pantheon.

-The renaissance artist Rafael is buried here along with Vittorio Emanuele II, the king that once united Italy as a whole.