What to see in the Pantheon

What is inside the Pantheon?

A rotunda under a dome with an open oculus, and along the wall niches and chapels with altars, statues and tombs. It is an active church, the Basilica of Santa Maria ad Martyres.

• The dome and the oculus, above you.
• Raphael's tomb, in one of the aedicules.
• The royal tombs: Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, and Queen Margherita.
• The artists: Annibale Carracci, Arcangelo Corelli, Baldassare Peruzzi.
• The Annunciation attributed to Melozzo da Forlì.
• The bronze doors and, outside, Agrippa's inscription.

A simple order: enter, look up, then go around the rotunda chapel by chapel and finish with the doors and the portico. During Mass, visits stop, so keep an eye on Saturday at 17:00 and Sunday at 10:30.

Why does the Pantheon have a hole in the dome?

The oculus has never been closed. It is 30 Roman feet wide and lets in light, and when it rains, also rain.

The floor slopes down by about 30 centimetres towards the drains, so the water drains away. According to Wikipedia the oculus also lightens the weakest point of the dome, the top. At Pentecost, red rose petals fall from the oculus, dropped by the Vigili del Fuoco: this is told in the rain of petals.

How big is the Pantheon dome?

The height to the oculus and the internal diameter are equal: 43.3 metres. Almost 2,000 years later, it remains the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.

It measures 150 Roman feet. Inside it is decorated with five tiers of 28 coffers, getting smaller as they rise, ending at a smooth band around the oculus. The trick to keep it standing is explained in the history of the Pantheon.

Who is buried in the Pantheon?

Raphael, with his fiancée Maria Bibbiena next to him, the artists Annibale Carracci, Arcangelo Corelli and Baldassarre Peruzzi, and the royal family: Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I and Queen Margherita.

The royal tombs face each other: Wikipedia places Umberto I and Margherita's exactly opposite Victor Emmanuel II's.

After Italian unification, the Pantheon was to become the Savoy burial place. It did not happen: the monarchy was abolished in June 1946, and the kings who died in exile were not granted burial here. The royal tombs are maintained by the Istituto Nazionale per la Guardia d'Onore alle Reali Tombe, founded in 1878, as reported by Wikipedia.

Where is Raphael's tomb in the Pantheon?

In a marble aedicule along the wall. On the sarcophagus it says «Ossa et cineres», bones and ashes.

Behind the tomb is the statue called Madonna del Sasso, because it rests one foot on a boulder: Raphael himself commissioned it, and Lorenzetto sculpted it in 1524. Next to the sarcophagus lies Maria Bibbiena, who died before the wedding.

What does the inscription on the Pantheon facade say?

M AGRIPPA L F COS TERTIVM FECIT: «Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, made this».

The name is Agrippa's, but the building is Hadrian's. Hadrian rebuilt the Pantheon and had the inscription of the original temple put back. Below the inscription is the portico: 16 Corinthian granite columns, 11.9 metres high and weighing about 60 tonnes each.

At the end of the portico, on either side of the entrance, there are two large niches. They may have been intended to house statues of Augustus and Agrippa: this is a hypothesis, and it is presented as such by Wikipedia.

Are the Pantheon bronze doors ancient?

They are very ancient, and they still work: in 1998 they were restored and the hinges replaced, so they open fully again.

They measure 4.45 metres in width and 7.53 metres in height, and Wikipedia lists them as the oldest in Rome. For a period, they were thought to be a 15th-century replacement. Look at them carefully when you leave.

A live guide who takes you from the portico to Raphael's tomb, with the ticket included.

★ 4.8 · 45 min - 1.5 hours · from $28

Discover the guided tour with ticket → Tour details

What artworks are in the Pantheon chapels?

The most famous is the Annunciation attributed to Melozzo da Forlì, in the first chapel on the right as you enter.

Sources date it to the 15th century, when the Pantheon began to fill with frescoes. In the other niches you will find statues of saints, paintings, and altars still in use: remember you are in a church, with silence and phones on silent mode.

Frequent questions