Winnie Griffin, age 14, of Monroe, La., for her question:    _

HOW OLD IS THE PANTHEON IN ROME?

The Pantheon is an architectural masterpiece of ancient Rome. It is a well preserved structure and is today considered a national shrine. The Pantheon was completed in A.D. 126, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, who may have helped design it.

The Pantheon was used as a church by Christians between the early 600s and 1885.

The beautiful Pantheon is a circular building topped by a dome. A rectangular porch stretches 100 feet across the front. Over the porch is a triangular roof supported by 16 Corinthian columns of granite, each 42 and a half feet high. The entrance to the temple still has its original bronze doors.

The Pantheon was the first Roman building that emphasized interior space, rather than exterior form. The inside of the temple is a circular chamber 144 feet in diameter. The dome, supported by eight large piers or rectangular supports, is 144 feet above the floor at its hightest point.

The only natural light comes in through the oculus, an opening 30 feet in diameter at the apex of the dome.

Colored marble designs on the floor and walls and Corinthian columns and pilasters or flat columns decorate the chamber.