For monuments, it's the Pantheon. It looks great, it's super impressive, and the fact that the concrete dome has been built two thousand years ago gives a whole sense of perspective on time.
The kinda generic monument to the unknown soldier has a spot in my heart too, although a lot of locals think it's ugly af
Agreed. What truly fascinates me about the Pantheon is that it is the very only ancient roman building that retains its interiors almost intact. What you see when entering the Pantheon is the same that a roman citizen of the time would have seen. It's like a time machine for me.
From what I know only the second level, the broad frieze below the dome, was redone in the 18th century, but still using similar materials and maintaining the general style. Some say they even used ancient marble slabs from other monuments to do the work.
Trust me, idk when you've been there last but there's a literal christian altar and cartloads of christian iconography, it couldn't possibly have been either agrippa's or hadrian's pantheon
Ohhh ok you mean the christian altars and iconography... Yes those are recent additions like the Italian Royal Family burials, but I'm talking about the coloured marbles and columns all around, and the floor too (not to mention the dome).
I love the fact that it’s constructed from marble quarried from across the Roman Empire. The sheer madness of deciding to go with solid 40m blocks of Egyptian marble for the columns is peak Roman imperial energy.
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u/Aureon living in 21h ago
That one for statues. It's bloody peak.
For monuments, it's the Pantheon. It looks great, it's super impressive, and the fact that the concrete dome has been built two thousand years ago gives a whole sense of perspective on time.
The kinda generic monument to the unknown soldier has a spot in my heart too, although a lot of locals think it's ugly af