Pantheon

We rounded a corner and there it was. I don't think any of us were prepared for what we were seeing; the whole group was silent. Finally, Caty let out a "holy @#$." Matt laughed and said he'd been waiting for that. So it wasn't just a figment of my imagination, they saw it too.

The Pantheon's size alone is awe-inspiring. It's a mammoth that soars above any expectations I'd had from my studies. Knowing architecture in books and knowing architecture in life aren't the same thing; they aren't even distant cousins. This building is HUGE.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't been living in a box, and I've certainly seen a skyscraper before. But with skyscrapers' brand of hugeness, I've been wholly unimpressed. Yeah, they're taller, but the Pantheon is grander. Every inch of it proclaims the greatness of Rome, of architecture, and of humanity.

The Pantheon draws you in. You experience it in a way you never get to understand a modern skyscraper. It opens itself to you and you can feel the weight of it. It relates to you in a way that makes me feel connected to it's awesomeness, and fully aware of my smallness. Like Van Gogh's ecstatic terror. Joi de vive. I felt it.

I went to a lecture once, by this man who said the temple was the great building of an age, the gothic cathedral was the great building of another, and a skyscraper is the building of our age. I hope that's not true. We've got to come up with something better. Something with some soul. We have a lot to live up to.

The phrase I remember Matt using was, "Go ahead - touch it." And I did touch it. I was there, under the portico of the Pantheon for the first time and I am so grateful I was able to have that experience.

Well, it's 5:30 in the now hazy pink morning. The sun is rising, the birds are singing... I better get some sleep. 9 am history class and I don't want to be too tired!

Buongiorno
Good morning
Ciao!