As a student of architecture, the opportunity to study in Rome was invaluable. To be able to see firsthand the art and architecture created long before our country even existed was an incredible experience. Though it is difficult to narrow down what the most compelling thing I experienced was, the Pantheon is one building I will not forget.
On my first full day in Rome, a small contingent of our larger group decided to do some independent sightseeing. The five of us, mostly acquaintances at the time, walked from our apartment north to the heart of the city. After a brief visit to our program center, we headed in search of the Pantheon.
I still remember turning my head to look down an alley and seeing it. We were to the west, so we decided to circle around to meet it from the front. When we got to the piazza, it was crawling with people, but the Pantheon was foremost in my mind. We walked up the steps and were all overwhelmed by the monumentality of the structure.
I still remember the noise at the threshold and the change once we entered. There was a sudden hush—the act of crossing into the space seemed to demand silence. It was afternoon; the sun coming through the oculus was on the floor to our left. I went and stood right in the midst of the light.
The people around me faded. I stood in awe of the hemisphere above me and the floor below. I tried to absorb everything and failed. There were too many details; too much to see.
I remember standing by a column and simply staring at it, trying to understand everything I could. How it was constructed. How it was implemented. What it looked like almost 2,000 years ago. The possibilities that were left to my imagination were overwhelming. And for seven weeks, I felt this exact same way each time I would stand and gaze at yet another of mankind’s great masterpieces.
– Andrew Burgess, Lecce, Italy