The pantheon is an ancient temple which sits in Rome, Italy. The temple was much later converted to a church of Santa Maria ad Martyres. The church is also one of the outstanding buildings in the country dating from 125 AD. The building has also been the largest concrete structure in the world up to the 20th century. Before starting a design of the St. Peter’s Basilica, Michelangelo first studied the Pantheon to gain more insight on the design and architecture. The Pantheon has also been a burial place for significant people like Raphael, the artist. The building has received much recognition for its architecture and concept of space. The dimensions of the building are: 142 ft wide and the same 142 ft in its height, which makes is an ideal sphere that rests on a tube. The dome of the building is a hemisphere of concrete which rests on a solid ring wall. The outer space of the dome is enclosed by light cantilevered blocks. The span of the auditorium has caused it to be the biggest in the globe, until the Brunelleschi’s dome build in the 14th century in Florence (MacDonald, 2002).
The Stourhead Garden is an example of a garden inspired by landscapes painters who existed in the seventeen century. The garden was created by a rich English banker who was a client to Italian arts. The garden was made in a strangely well-proportioned valley behind the house. The garden is one of the world’s deluxe landscape gardens because of its architecture. In the middle of the design is a magnificent lake which has adorned temples on its edges. At the periphery are enchanting grottos and rare exotic trees. Although the main design of the Stourhead was done by Colen Campbell, there are other artists involved in designing the gardens. The main designer of the gardens was Henry Hoare II. His main inspirations in creating the garden were painter Claude Lorrrain and Gaspard Dughet, the painter of Utopian Italian landscapes (Woodbridge, 1968).
Monticello sits on top of a hill in Albermarle County, Virginia, near the birth place of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was the creator and designer of the house and spent more than four decades working on the building. During work, he designed, dismantled, and reimaged the estates which he gave the name “essay in architecture.” Jefferson built the house in 1794 using the designs he had acquired from France and other European countries. The most noticeable feature of the house is the availability of an octagonal dome. The room in the dorm was considered by many as a noble and beautiful apartment. However, the house was rarely used for a number of reasons among them the need for one to climb a steep hill. During his lifetime, the appearance of the dome was changed with “Mars yellow” walls and a painted green floor. Later, the Monticello along with other nearby buildings was designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Adams, 1983).
First, there is a similarity that span between the three pieces of arts. The first one is the availability of a central dome. The Pantheon and the Monticello have evident domes within the buildings. In the case of Stourhead Garden, there is a central lake within the garden which conjures a dome. The designs that were used to create the three pieces of arts were borrowed from Europe and Italy. The architects possessed the same skills and expertise. For example, the Monticello and the Pantheon were constructed using the same materials. For example, in both cases, bronze doors were used as the main doors. There are evident differences between the three pieces of arts. First, while two are buildings, one of them is a garden. Secondly, most of the materials used to construct the Pantheon are ancient than those used to construct the Monticello. This is because the buildings were constructed during two different periods of time. Finally, the three pieces are significant to date and are used as tourism destinations in the countries in which they are located.
References
MacDonald, W. L. (2002). The Pantheon: design, meaning, and progeny. Harvard University Press.
Woodbridge, K. (1968). The Sacred Landscape: Painters and the Lake Garden of Stourhead,". In Apollo (Vol. 88, pp. 210-14).
Adams, W. H. (1983). Jefferson's Monticello. Abbeville Press.
