history of world architecture

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Pantheon

Romans were obsessed with perfection . This is seen in their elite warriors , as well as their genius in architecture . Romans were the ones who invented concrete , a stable material which enable them to fashion lasting roads , which enhanced commerce and allowed the nation to grow In the industrial nature of the Roman Empire one of the longest lasting pieces of revered art is still in existence today : The Pantheon , built by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 27 B .C . The following

will focus on the history of the Pantheon and compare it to one other piece of architecture during the same time period

The design of the Pantheon is one of sheer brilliance . The ventilation of the building can be found with the oculus structure on the top of the dome . This feature allows rain to fall in but by the time it reaches the bottom of the building (the floor ) it has already evaporated . The oculus is 8 .9 meters in diameter , which is fairly large , and does not only allow for ventilation but also for natural sunlight to grace the interior of the building and to let the sun shine in different spots during its rotation of the day (History of Roman Architecture

The interior structure of the wall also makes use of the Corinthian column . The Corinthian (from Corinth ) is different from the Ionic or Doric column in that it has a flourish of `leaves ' at its top and the column width is different than the other two . The Corinthian columns grace the Pantheon wall every seven niches (History or Roman Architecture . The second level of the building has the same columns but with two niches . These columns are repeated on the frescoed patterned walls as images in for the eye to have the reiteration of beauty

The construction materials for building the Pantheon were of typical Roman fashion . The main material used was marble . The Romans had a quarry near the construction site so hauling the marble was not difficult . Since most of the Pantheon was made of marble , it was difficult for it to stand against the natural deteriorating elements of weather and time , therefore much reconstruction has been done

The structure of the Pantheon is broken up into four different yet combining sections : Forecourt , pronaos , intermediate corpus , and the rotunda with cupola . The forecourt is rectangular in shape and is located on the northern side of the Pantheon and is surrounded by a three sided porticus . The forecourt is the main entrance into the Pantheon

The Pronaos has eight front and three back columns , and as Karmen Center states , Recent investigations of the space in front of the pronaos have revealed that the podium projected for about 7 .10m into the forecourt , creating an ante-standing platform flanked on both sides by a flight of 11 steps (Karmen Center paragraph 5

The intermediate corpus ' material was mainly that of brick . There is a wide opening...