Inside the Pantheon In Rome - an incredible 1900 year old temple - built by the Romans to last !

On our last day in Rome a few weeks ago, we finally managed to get into the Pantheon - the queues had been crazy all week.

The pantheon is an incredible building and what always astonishes me is the main dome, when you get inside, you find that the dome is completely open in the centre at the top. The rain comes in - birds fly in and out - its fantastic !

I've posted about the Pantheon before (here) - but we hadnt been inside at that point.

Its dome is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world - quite incredible that its been that way since it was built all those years ago !

The building is huge inside - it has a massive open expanse underneath the main dome. It was originally a temple, but got changed to being a catholic church in 609AD.

It has beautiful marble floors (with holes in to let the rain water out !).

The pic above shows the entrance door (thats my daughter walking in), and again it helps to show just how big it is inside there.

Considering it wasnt created as a church, it does not have the typical cross design, which makes it quite interesting inside. I wonder what it would have been like as a temple - it must surely have been as equally impressive as it is now.

Here you can see some of the columns, which I assume would have been original features, supporting the alcoves - the craftsmanship is brilliant.

And interestingly, so of the walls inside are bare - you can see holes in the brickwork above, showing that something was originally fixed to the wall there, as those are nail holes, which probably held marble of some form, which then got stripped/stolen over the years and used on something else in the city.

And just look at those doors - gargantuan ! I wonder who has passed through them over the years ! Probably anybody who was anybody !

And above is a modern art installation that was on display while we were there - quite interesting !!!

I love the carving above, the colour of the marble is quite incredible !

It really is my fav ever building, and I was delighted to get to go inside again ! I just cant believe how something so old and grand has survived all this time (most other things its age are complete ruins and not even close to being intact).

For me its the number one place to visit in Rome, and if you are ever there, I highly recommend it. Plus its actually free to get in ! I'm already looking forward to going back and seeing it again, whenever that will be (I aged 15 years between visits - I'll have to do better than that next time !).