Since arriving in Italy a little less than two weeks ago, I’ve taken so many pictures with my phone, I can hardly carry it in my pocket—it’s heavy! The enormity and architectural brilliance of the mutli-century old building’s and ancient ruins we’re surrounded by, everywhere you turn to look, make even the least seasoned photographer’s appear as though they’re trained professionals.

Prior to leaving England, I was telling the guy cutting my hairs of our plans to visit Rome. He said, in his gentleman-like English accent, “oh, wait’ll you see Rome, mate, the historical architecture there is simply lovely!” I responded with something like “really, have you seen your own buildings?!” When he said “you haven’t seen anything yet,” it went in one ear and right out the other assuming ‘he probably just takes his own country’s architecture for granted.’ Next time I see him, I’ll have to let him know how accurate his description was.

As I began taking pictures, I was quickly loaded up with structures—extravagant churches, water features (and there’s a lot of them), gorgeous statues, narrow cobble stone roads, everything is so ancient and the designs are nothing less than a modern marvel. I quickly realized I can’t fit each of them into a single article so I’ve since decided the only way to adequately share our experience in Rome with you is by breaking them up into sections—a Roman series. I decided I’ll post an article that only features statues, one for water features, another for ruins and so on. Then we visited Pantheon—a picture tour worthy of an article all by itself. And then, just yesterday, we toured Vatican City—another picture tour deserving of its own article, I’ll get to that one another day. First, Pantheon.

You’ll find the extensive description by clicking the link above—this is the shortened version. I’ve since jokingly dubbed the former Roman Temple, “selfie center,” you’ll see why in just a minute. Originally constructed during the reign of Augustas in the year 27 B.C, the Pantheon’s dome is the worlds largest unreinforced concrete cylinder standing 142 feet in the air. That, itself, is a challenging concept to accept even having seen the structure with my own eyes. The Pantheon’s dome is the inspiration and example inspired by both previous and current architects worldwide that annually hosts an estimated six million visitors. On that note, the picture tour of this nearly 2,000 year old structure that remains one of today’s modern architectural mysteries has officially begun—enjoy the show!
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Pantheon of Rome, Italy

Wednesday