Art of the Pantheon

Research about visitor experience in the Pantheon, conducted by Professor Tom Beaudoin of Fordham University.

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

@pantheon_roma #Pantheon #architecture #powersunderconstruction
Photo: Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

@pantheon_roma #Pantheon #architecture #powersunderconstruction

📷 Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

La maggior parte dei visitatori della nostra ricerca ha riferito che il Pantheon li ha fatti riflettere. Quanto è importante l'architettura per pensare alla vita?

Most visitors report that the Pantheon made them think. How important is architecture for thinking about life?

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

For our research, one visitor remarked that the Pantheon "was a place of warmth, a place that brought me peace, a sanctified space."

📸 Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

@pantheon_roma #Pantheon #powersunderconstruction

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

Cos'è un'esperienza "spirituale" o "religiosa" dell'architettura?
From our research, 21% of pilgrims and 8% of non-pilgrims described their experience of the Pantheon as spiritual or religious.

📸 Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

@pantheon_roma #Pantheon #powersunderconstruction

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

From our research: one visitor commented about their most memorable experience: "Its historical majesty. I could sense how many people have been inside this structure over so many centuries."

📷 Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

#Pantheon @Pantheon #powersunderconstruction

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

According to our research, when visitors were asked to describe their most significant experience at the Pantheon, their relation to the oculus (the circular hole in the dome) was mentioned more than a connection to any other feature/quality. Surprised?
📷 Tom Beaudoin, Oct '22

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

We received over 6000 written comments in our 2022 survey of 1500+ Pantheon visitors. We will begin sharing some through social media. Hopefully they will help deepen your experience, curiosity, reflection about how built environments help us reckon with life.

📷 TB, Nov '21

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

Last summer, we conducted a survey of Pantheon visitors. Over 1500 people responded to questions about their experience in the Pantheon, whether "religious," "spiritual," or "secular." We learned a lot about your experience (and about the Pantheon), and we will be sharing soon.

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

Beginning Monday, it will cost 5 euros to enter the Pantheon. It will be interesting to see what happens in terms of official curation and visitor apprehension of the space. Entering for religious services, such as Catholic Mass, will remain free.

📷 Tom Beaudoin, Nov. 2021

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

The portico invites monumental theological imagination. Architecture scholar Lindsay Jones writes that in some cultures, architecture both houses and attracts divinities: "The god of Christianity, too, may be subject to the allurement of proportionality."
📷 T. Beaudoin, Nov '21

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

Floors are important features in sacred architecture. What have you thought or felt about the floor in the Pantheon?

I pavimenti sono elementi importanti nell'architettura sacra. Cosa hai pensato o provato riguardo al pavimento del Pantheon?

📷 Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

What arises inside bodies as the Pantheon is glimpsed through a narrow alley from a distant approach? What do the building's shapes, mass, size, or features evoke when the neighborhood partly conceals the building?

📷 Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

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[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

Today at the Pantheon, Pentecost was celebrated. Firefighters climbed up the dome. They dropped rose petals through the oculus. This was the view from outside.

📷 Tom Beaudoin, May 2023
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[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

“An ever-so-astute analysis of the groundplan cannot replace the feeling one receives from the light and shade pervading the spaces and the actual muscular communion with the whole that is experienced through walking around and into a building.”
—Konrad Oberhuber #pantheon

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

In 2021, there was a "Peace Wall" exhibit from the Associazione I Colori per la Pace, the "Colors for Peace Association." How does welcoming children's art change the meanings of the Pantheon?

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📸 Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

Every evening, as the doors close, a crowd of people take pictures. For some visitors, this is their experience of the Pantheon.

📸 Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

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[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

The Pantheon, and other sacred architecture, can show you a way to experience the world.
Il Pantheon, e altre architetture sacre, possono mostrarti un modo per vivere il mondo.

📸 Tom Beaudoin, November 2021

#Pantheon @pantheon_roma

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

Saintly statuary: Mary, mother of Jesus, and her mother Anne. Mary's presence has been invoked at the Pantheon constantly, ever since the Pantheon became a church some 1400 years ago. La presenza di Maria è stata costantemente invocata al Pantheon.

📸 Tom Beaudoin, July 2021

[Art of the Pantheon @pantheonstudy]

A royal tomb, a church, an Italian/Roman national site, an ancient monument, or even a museum, occasionally a concert hall, a beautiful place to sit down... the Pantheon presents many sides to many different people. Il Pantheon presenta molti lati a molte persone diverse.