The Pantheon

The Pantheon, built in 126 AD, was originally a temple dedicated to "all gods" ("Pan" is Greek for "All" and "Theon" is roughly Greek for "Gods"), and has been in continuous use ever since.  The Roman Catholic church has been using it since about the 7th Century, AD.

One of the first things that I noticed about the Pantheon was the age / weathering of the exterior structure itself.  Rome is full of history dating back thousands of years, but the Pantheon "looks" ancient.  The material used is much different in color and texture from surrounding structures, and the architectural style stands in stark contrast to almost anything we saw in Rome (with the exception of the Forum).

Another first impression is the sheer size of the building.  Here's the approach to the front doors:

Another obvious feature of the building is the Oculus (aka: Big hole in the roof).  Because of the way the building was designed, the Oculos points a beam of light around the interior.

Another interesting feature of the Pantheon is that Raphael is buried there.  See:

Finally, I figured out that our camera has a movie feature.  Here's a quick video from inside the Pantheon looking from eye level and then into the oculus.