The Pantheon in Rome was rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian between approximately 118 and 128 CE on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa. This grand structure, with its revolutionary concrete dome and oculus, was originally dedicated to all Roman gods and later became a Christian church. Its design has made it one of the most influential buildings in Western architectural history.

The Pantheon's architectural perfection has been celebrated in poetry from the Renaissance to the present, with writers from Petrarch to Shelley using it as a symbol of Roman endurance and human ingenuity. Its conversion to a Christian church in 609 inspired medieval hymns and later Romantic reflections on the layering of pagan and Christian traditions in European civilization.