 The Pantheon is a Roman temple built by Emperor Hadrian in the year 126 AD. It was not dedicated to any single god, instead it was used to worship the entire Roman Pantheon. It has a circular body with a high domed roof as well as a portico underneath a pediment.
The original Pantheon was built on the site of another temple which was originally built by Marcus Agrippa in 31 BC. It was destroyed in a fire in 80 AD. It was then rebuilt by Emperor Domitian and burnt down again in 110 AD. The current Pantheon was begun in 113 AD and finished in 126 AD. In 609 AD the Byzantine Emperor Phocas gifted it to Pope Boniface the 4th, who converted it to a Catholic church. Mass is still held in it today. The portico’s ceiling was originally coated in bronze and the niches in the Pantheon’s exterior walls used to hold statues. During the Renaissance, Pope Urban the 8th had the bronze melted down, with most of it being used to make bombards for the Castel Sant'Angelo and the rest going to the Papal Treasury.
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 This mural, located across the street from our apartment in Rome, was painted by the Italian street artist Blu on the facade of an abandoned aeronautical barracks. The building was home to 400 residents only 8 years ago. Most of the residents were families from South America and North Africa. The mural was finished in 2014. The mural incorporates the windows of the building into its design, usually as the eyes of its characters.
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