The Pantheon in Rome, Italy, was built thousands of years ago and looks
like this today.
A ROOF WITH A HOLE IN THE MIDDLE
Whoever heard of building a building with a big hole in the middle of
the roof? No, the hole was not a mistake; it was put there on purpose.
The building with a big hole in the middle of the roof is the Pantheon
in Rome, Italy. It has no windows or lamps. Light comes through the big
hole in the roof.
Long, long ago, a Roman general named Marcus Agrippa built the Pantheon
as a temple to honor all the Roman gods. Later, the Emperor Hadrian
added the big round dome-area, called the rotunda. The rotunda measures
about fourteen stories from floor to ceiling and from side to side. And
the huge dome with the big hole in the middle is one of the biggest
domes in the world.
You can see the Pantheon in the Piazza della Rotunda in Rome. It is one
of the best-preserved examples of ancient Roman architecture in the
world.
This old painting shows how the hole in the roof of the Pantheon helped
to light the inside of the building.
