Pantheon Roof Structure

A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda which is under a coffered concrete dome with a central opening oculus to the sky.

Pantheon roof structure.

This was the first element of the building to be constructed using the roman concrete opus caementicium technique. The ceiling of the pantheon dome has five symmetrical rows of 28 coffers sunken panels and a round oculus opening at the center. Sunlight streaming through the oculus illuminates the pantheon rotunda. Panthéon the panthéon paris.

That is correct there is no charge to visit and enter this historical building. With an age of almost two thousand years old the pantheon is the world s largest unreinforced concrete dome structure with the height and the diameter of the interior being the same dimension 43 3 meters or 142 feet. The pantheon still has the longest span constructed before the 19th century. The panthéon is a cruciform building with a high dome over the crossing and lower saucer shaped domes covered by a sloping roof over the four arms.

Most historians however claim that emperor marcus vipsanius agrippa built the first pantheon in 27 bc a rectilinear t shaped structure 144 feet by 66 feet 44m x 20m with masonry walls and a pitched timber roof. The structure of the rotonda the rotunda italian for round is the name for the main central structure of the pantheon and it refers to the pantheon s distinctive cylindrical shape. The facade like that of the roman pantheon is formed by a porch of corinthian columns and triangular pediment attached to the ends of the eastern arm. To provide details on this complex configuration the following figures show the building with its two ring foundation voids in the walls and the step ring and coffer arrangement in the dome.

Almost two thousand years after it was built the pantheon s dome is still the world s largest unreinforced concrete dome. The coffered ceiling and oculus were not only decorative but also lessened the weight load of the roof.