Bass Trombone Wauchope: S. Maria del Popolo, the Pantheon

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

S. Maria del Popolo, the Pantheon

Our first morning out, we walked across the Tiver to the Piazza del Popolo to visit S. Maria del Popolo, our first visit to a church of many. It is a very interesting church, but probably most famous for having two of Caravaggio's most famous, and startling paintings, The Conversion of St. Paul, and the Crucifixion of St. Peter. For some incalculably stupid reason, I forgot they were there! I will say that I was in excruciating pain at that point with my knee, and so I wandered around a few steps, sat down, very slowly and painfully, forced myself up for a few more steps, sat down again very slowly and painfully, etc. etc. Don found them off by himself, so one of us got to see them.

Just outside the church was a Leonardo da Vinci Museum, mostly recreations of some of his inventions. It was entertaining and showcased the genius of the man most would call the ultimate renaissance man.

The Pantheon was a logical place for the afternoon, and we joined the largest crowd of tourists yet, to stand in line to get in. But the line moved very quickly, stretched all around the piazza though it was, and we were soon inside one of the great iconic architectual masterpieces of the ages. Built in the first century, it was saved from destruction by being converted into a church and has come down to us as the best-preserved Roman temple in existence. The dome, with its famous oculus (30 feet wide!) is the only light source, except for some more recent lighting. The dome was the largest dome in the world until the 20th. century!

S. Maria del Miracoli and S. Maria in Montesanto

S. Maria del Popolo

The da Vinci Museum

The first idea for a tank!

The scale of that dome, and the fact that you could invert it and place in of the floor and there would be a perfect sphere, just astounds. In other words, the diameter and the floor-to-oculus distance are exactly the same.