Transcript THE PANTHEON Rome, Italy, c. 126 CE

Selected Work #4
ART RESOURCE GUIDE
Watch these:
 Khan Academy's Pantheon (8:31):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaY8zqYfQI0
 Engineering an Empire (9:39) start 2 min. into video
clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5uecyfK34
 Building the Pantheon
(8:41): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=305niNDG
8c4&index=5&list=PL_vT94oYGFZTekvqXh0sgVF1mp
aVRIr4g
THE PANTHEON: 4 Views
The development of concrete
 CONCRETE:
 allowed construction projects to last through time
 Used by
 Some scholars think it was used by Egyptians
 It arose DEFINITIVELY with the Romans
 Developed out of NECESSITY
 No convenient MARBLE QUARRIES in Rome as in Greece
 Local stone
 mostly soft volcanic material
 Unsuitable for big building!
 Ambitious projects required a new, more flexible bldg. material
 TRIAL & ERROR led to ideal CONCRETE recipe
 THUS…development of concrete
 NOT a single great discovery
 But more of an EVOLVING process of

Innovation & investgation
CONCRETE
 Made of a mixture of
 Lime mortar
 Volcanic sand
 Stone
 Water
 A chemical reaction w/ water
 changes the molecular structure, which


Creates heat
Binds them strongly creating “artificial stone”
 The resulting material is excellent for construction
 Can be molded into any shape
 Is FIRE-RESISTANT
 Renders ARCHITECTURE a matter of
 SPACE rather than MASS
 (lg., unobstructed areas can be built in almost any
configuration)
Distinctive Features of Roman
Concrete
 In earlier eras, builders had used
 Lime mortars
 Manifestations of concrete
 But what made Roman concrete different was
 The particular materials used
 The sophistication of their application
Roman builders
 Began with simple
techniques
 Such as mortared rubble
construction

2 closely placed brink walls
 Filled with rubble
 Covered in clay
Later methods
 Included binding the rubble with poured mortars of
various formulas
 The most significant advancement = the addition of
POZZOLANA to the mortar mixture
 Reddish volcanic dust
 A.k.a. POZZOLANIC ASH
 Bound esp. well with sand & lime to create a strong,
waterproof mass as it cured
 Also, could be set in DAMP CONDITIONS

Allowing for greater flexibility w/ construction schedule
Roman concrete
 Used a wide variety of aggregate stone
 STONE gives concrete
 Strength
 mass
 The Romans were careful to choose the right aggregate for
the right project. They used everything from
 SELCE, a very heavy lava stone to
 TUFTA and PUMICE – lightweight
 They even recycled for use as aggregate:
 architectural sculptures
 Stone buildings
 Experimentation & innovation = typical
 PANTHEON:

significant monument and significant example of innovation
The Pantheon: Analysis
 One of the most unusual/remarkable ancient temples
 Built under emperor HADRIAN
 Although inscription on front states
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
 Indicating it was


Founded by MARCUS AGRIPPA
And completed during his
3rd round as consul (27 or 25 BCE)
 Agrippa’s original burned (80 CE)
 2nd structure built by DOMITIAN
was destroyed, too.
 So this is actually the 3rd version
of a temple at this location
 The inscription shows respect for
 Tradition
 The original building
 The emperor who first sponsored it
 The PANTHEON
 Like the 2 previous versions
 Was dedicated to all the gods in the Roman
pantheon
BASIC ARCHITECTURE
 Quite simple
 Hemispherical dome
 Set on cylindrical base
 Walls are
 Rounded like a drum
 Resulting in a perfect
sphere in the interior
Interior
 Amazing scale
 Very open
 No central supports
to break it up
 Particularly striking and surprising because entry =
traditional Corinthian
PORTICO with
 COLONNADE
 PEDIMENT
 PITCHED ROOF LINE
BUT…
BUT…
 Instead of the
rectangular space suggested
by the temple front
 One enters a vast, circular
space
 For a PANORAMIC VIEW,
visit
http://www.learn.columbia.edu/ha/html/ancient_rom
e_pantheon_
INTERIOR
 Marvel of an interior is made possible primarily
through use of CONCRETE
 FLEXIBILITY allowed shaping of perfectly curved
lines of


DRUM
DOME
 The DOME itself possible only due to newly
formulated material (CONCRETE)


142 feet in diameter
The largest such structure built in Europe before the 20th
century
The Treasury of Atreus
 Before the PANTHEON,
 the TREASURY OF ATRUS =
 Only comparable vaulted space WITHOUT interior
supports
 But it’s quite small in comparison
 only 43 feet high
THE DOME
 Quite complex in design
 Supported at its base by curved walls of temple
 Walls are 20 FEET THICK
 Dome is 20 FEET THICK as it joins the walls
 From there, the dome
 rises to the ceiling
 Its width gradually decreasing until it’s a mere

6 FEET THICK at the pinnacle
THE DOME
 The dome’s concrete mix included
 FIVE different aggregates
 With denser, heavier materials closer to the drum
 Lighter materials used as dome springs upward
 COFFERS
 Telescoping square forms
 Used to remove material and
further lighten the load of the
dome
 OCCULUS
 30-foot wide opening at top of dome
 Circular hole = primary source of light for the interior in
antiquity
DECORATIONS:
 Originally richly decorated
 Each COFFER adorned with a
 GILDED BRONZEROSETTE
 Made it look like a starry
night
 The walls were multicolored -
- covered with marble
 thin sheets of MARBLE
VENEER
 MARBLE COLUMNS
Niches
 The niches in the drum interior
were
 Filled with sculptures
 Dedicated to all the Roman gods
 Decorative elements were brought
to the temple from throughout the
empire
 Reminder of wealth
 Extent of Roman holdings
 Sheathed modest-looking concrete
material from which temple was
built
 Rich marble & bronze used to
spectacular effect
Loss & Recovery of Concrete
 After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the use of
concrete was drastically reduced
 By 400 CE ROMAN RECIPE was lost
 effectively disappeared until the 14th century
 1300s to mid-1600s, concrete used sporadically until
 the CANAL DU MIDI
 1670
 southern France
 EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE
 1759
 British engineer JOHN SMEATON used concrete
 Devon, England
MODERNIZATIONS
 Development of PORTLAND CEMENT
 Most commonly used form today
 By JOSEPH ASPDIN
 1824
 Invention of REINFORCED CONCRETE
 1849
 JOSEPH MONIER
 used to perfection by the Romans, but has only
reemerged relatively recently in history
 Is one of the most prevalent building materials in use
around the world
Review Games & Flashcards
 Play JEWELS OF WISDOM: The Pantheon at
 http://www.cram.com/flashcards/games/jewel/art-04the-pantheon-4788385
 Practice at Quizlet:
 http://quizlet.com/44372441/art-the-pantheon-pp-6366-flash-cards/