Iconography of the present state of the Pantheon 

Giovanni Battista Piranesi made this etching, called "Iconography of the present state of the Pantheon," to document the building's structure. The Pantheon was originally built as a Roman temple, and today it survives as one of the best-preserved buildings of ancient Rome. Here, Piranesi turns his sharp observational skills to a formal study of the building. In the 18th century, Rome was a popular destination for wealthy Europeans on the Grand Tour, and Piranesi catered to this market by producing hundreds of prints depicting Roman architecture and antiquities. This print would have appealed to visitors interested in the Pantheon's architectural design. Piranesi's Pantheon engravings served to promote a new form of architectural classicism by looking back to the past, and such prints, along with guidebooks and other forms of visual representation, helped to shape the perception of Rome as a city of historical significance. Historians consult Piranesi's images, as well as other archival records, to understand the cultural importance of the city's monuments.