Pantheon Tour with innovative audio guide: a giant gazing upwards

Adventure through the history the Pantheon with our exclusive audio guide, featuring priority access from the brilliant conception to its profound influence on Renaissance artists. Trace the impact of this architectural masterpiece throughout time. Witness the magic of its iconic oculus, or 'eye', which has inspired generations

Decipher the power plays on our audio tour: Pantheon, a temple for all gods?

Discover that the Pantheon as it stands today dates back to the early 2nd century AD, when Emperor Hadrian rebuilt the previous one, which had been erected by Emperor Augustus more than a century earlier, following a devastating fire. Centuries later, it's easy for us to see the political strategy behind choosing the name Pantheon. But probably only a few Romans at the time saw the tentacles of power in such a seemingly generous name: Pantheon, a Greek word meaning 'all gods', therefore a temple dedicated to all gods.

So, were there 12 statues of the main gods inside the Pantheon? Our audio guide unmasks the propaganda: there are only 7 large niches for imposing statues of the gods in the Pantheon. Meanwhile, historians of the time only mention the names of three deities certainly worshiped under the great dome: Mars, Venus, and Julius Caesar, who was deified after his death. These three deities are linked to the myths with which Augustus, the first emperor and master of propaganda, celebrated his right to authoritarian power. It suits him because his bloodline is traced back to the gods, Mars and Venus, as well as to Julius Caesar, his great-uncle.

What sets our Pantheon audio tour apart from a traditional one?

It's been conceived by a team of passionate archaeologists and historians and created with cutting-edge audio and visual tools to highlight crucial perspectives and details. It's a brand-new product on the market: a TourPodcast. It combines the popularization of historical facts, enriched by relevant details and contemporary accounts, with immersive locations explorations, narrated effectively and recorded by a professional actor.

Question the columns of the Pantheon's portico: are they colossal because the gods are great?

The columns of the Pantheon stand at a height of 12 meters, with a circumference of over 4.5 meters. Of course, the gods are great and they are honored with majestic works. But equal merit is acquired by those who want them and finance them, the various emperors in turn, the sole patrons of all the great public works in imperial Rome: the more spectacular the work, the more loved the emperor will be for his generosity; the more colossal the architecture, the more undisputed his power will be. But the columns of the Pantheon are made of granite, indestructible and rare, with a fine grain of colored crystals that create specific lighting effects. Observe them closely by crossing the portico of the Pantheon: our audio guide will accompany you, pointing them out.

Grasp the architecture of the Pantheon: the harmony of its spherical space

Get passionate about history of the Pantheon

Glide upward into the vast volume of the Pantheon: it seems to go on forever

Journey through the history of the Pantheon with our priority access audio tour, from its ingenious creation to its crucial influence on Renaissance artists who studied its dome. Trace the profound impact of this powerful yet harmless architectural drug over time. Join the magic that its great oculus, "eye" in Latin, has exerted on generations.

Discover who Emperor Hadrian was, the probable designer of the Pantheon as well as its financier. He traveled far and wide in the empire, building memorable buildings everywhere. He was deeply in love with the young Antinous, and upon his death at the age of only 19, he erected thousands of temples and statues dedicated to him throughout the empire in his memory, preserved intact to this day. An act of love or an act of politics?