Ancient site · Temple
Pantheon, Rome
The Pantheon in Rome is a temple to all the gods, rebuilt under Emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated around 126 CE on the site of an earlier temple by Agrippa. A porch of granite columns leads into a round hall covered by a concrete dome with an open hole, the oculus, at the top.
Almost two thousand years later it is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. Since 609 CE it has been a church, which is one reason it survives so well.
- Dates
- c. 126 CE; a church since 609
- Still standing
- Yes
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 41.90° N, 12.48° E
How we know
Roman texts and the inscription on its front record it, although Hadrian copied the older builder Agrippa's name onto it, so its exact date is uncertain.
Nearby sites
- Colosseum 72–80 CE; games until the 6th century
- Pompeii 7th–6th century BCE – 79 CE
- Su Nuraxi di Barumini tower 17th–13th century BCE; village to the 6th century BCE
- Ötzi the Iceman (find site) died c. 3230 BCE
- Carthage founded c. 814 BCE (traditional date); destroyed 146 BCE; Roman city to 698 CE
- Hallstatt salt mines and cemetery c. 1200–350 BCE (prehistoric mining)