I am happy to report that Angels and Demons is a much better movie than The Da Vinci Code. You can follow the story whether or not you've read the book. It's exciting and interesting and made fine entertainment for a rainy day in Seattle.
Perhaps in retaliation for all the controversy stirred up by The Da Vinci Code, Ron Howard and his film crew were not allowed to film inside any of the Roman churches or other buildings for Angels and Demons. And, no one can shoot movies inside the Vatican ever.
So, they filmed the exteriors and built sets for the interiors. I think it was a clever idea to make the church interiors "under construction," filled with rubble, and strung with plastic sheeting.
Whether you see the movie or not, I thought you might enjoy learning some of the "secrets" of the Roman locations. All are places worth a visit when you are in Rome.
The Pantheon is the best preserved and most magnificent monument of Roman antiquity. It's been a sacred site since at least 25 B.C. and the current building is the third temple constructed there. Although the Emperor Hadrian was personally responsible for the design of this temple, completed in 126 A.D., he retained the original dedication, boldly printed in bronze across the front pediment:
M AGRIPPA LF COS TERTIUM FECIT
The abbreviated Latin means: Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, Consul for the Third time, built this.
The word pantheon means "all gods" and it was a temple to the 12 most revered Roman Gods whose images were in niches in the rotunda. Julius Caesar had a statue there too.
The reason it's so well preserved is that in the 7th century Pope Boniface IV consecrated it as a Catholic church. Naturally, he first stripped it of all its pagan artwork. Boniface then decreed that the removal of so much as a single stone was a mortal sin.
Nonetheless, the Pantheon was mined for materials in later centuries. The roof was once covered in gilded bronze tiles that reflected the sun--long gone. The original doors were plated in gold--removed and replaced with the ones you see today. Much of the marble facade of the temple exterior--gone.
When Bernini need bronze for his baldacchino (the canopy over the altar) in St. Peter's, he scavenged more than 200 tons of bronze from the Pantheon's roof.
Despite all this, it is a magnificent building and amazingly well preserved.
One of its most impressive features, and the reason Langdon starts his quest here in the movie, is the huge oculus in the domed roof.
Oculus means"eye," and it's the large round opening that serves as the Pantheon's source of light. It's open to the sky and lets in rain, too, which flows out again via special drains in the floor. The oculus was Hadrian's idea to symbolize a link between heaven and earth.
The dome has a span of 141 feet and it's the largest free-standing dome anywhere in the world, the supreme achievement of the ancient Romans' craft with concrete.
In Angels and Demons, Professor Langdon rushes to the Pantheon based on the only clue he has, four lines from a poem by Milton:
From Santi's earthly tomb with demon' hole,
'Cross Rome the mystic elements unfold
The path of light is laid, the sacred test,
Let the angels guide you on your lofty quest.
He is correct in determining that Santi is an alternate name for the Renaissance artist Raphael Sanzio, whose tomb is indeed in the Pantheon, but the oculus is not the demon's hole. Milton and those of his time considered the oculus a marvel of invention, nothing demonic about it at all.
And, of course, Langdon soon realizes his error and races off to the next site, Santa Maria del Populo, which I'll tell you about in the next post.
I hope you get a chance to visit the Pantheon some day. It's free and open from 8:30 until 7:30 (9-6 on Sundays).
Although everyone calls it the Pantheon, the official name of the church is Santa Maria Rotunda (also called Santa Maria ad Martyres) and it's still functions as a church. Mass is said there on special occasions and holy days, and it's a favorite spot for Roman weddings.
If you go, step around the corner onto Via degli Orfani to La Tazza d'Oro for an espresso. It's said to serve Rome's best coffee.
Or perhaps you'd prefer a gelato. A short one minute walk from the Pantheon on Via della Maddalena is the Gelateria della Palma, one of Rome's best ice cream shops. Here's a link to a YouTube video showing the vast array of flavors in this famous gelateria that will make your mouth water.
If you are interested in more about the movie, check out the Angels and Demons website, for a host of interactive features, including a great map of the locations.
