Mass at the Pantheon

I realized on Saturday that I have less than a month and a half left in Roma, so I had better get started doing all the things on my mental list of must-do's I had been forming since January. So, I decided to start by attending Mass at the Pantheon, but it wasn't easy. I had to run through a marathon (literally) to get where I was going. At the end of every bridge across the Tiber within a 10-minute walk from our apartment were barriers and ropes marking the route of the annual Rome Marathon. There was no way to get through without running across between the runners. Clueless as to what to do, I decided to just step back and watch what some other perplexed Romans and tourists did, which ended up being just bolting across any time there was even the smallest break. It took some time to work up the courage, but eventually I made it across and was on my way to the Pantheon.

Part of the Marathon route further down, which
I had to cross again after leaving the Pantheon

Mass at the Pantheon was one of the best decisions I've made. It was kind of weird to think about the space as a church, because I'm so used to going in and placing it in its historical context as an audience hall for the emporer. Finally able to actually see the space in itself, not jam-packed with tourists, I realized just how huge the space really is and how small it makes you feel, and I became very happy for the relief of the altar as a focus during the Mass and the visual smallness of the space when sitting so close to and facing the wall. The Pantheon really is a powerful and intimidating space, especially in the stillness of the quiet parts of the Mass.

Almost-empty Pantheon, with a crowd of tourists outside, waiting to get in

As the service ended, I took advantage of the 5 minutes of uncrowded, quiet time in the Pantheon while the sacristans cleaned up and the gates holding back the masses had not yet been opened. I was finally able to stroll leisurely through the space, to take it in without a hundred cameras flashing around me. I even got a chance to see the tombs of Raphael and Vittorio Emmanuelle II, which I knew were there but were usually so crowded by tourists that I never really saw them. However, the floodgates eventually opened, and people poured in. It was really quite amusing to see how the tourists entered the almost-empty Pantheon: they would all walk as a mass about 10 feet into the space, stop, and take a picture before they even looked around to see what they should be taking pictures of.

Five minutes later, the Pantheon filled with people