Spanish Pantheon in Rome. A Permanent Abode

Abstract

The Spanish Pantheon in the Campo di Verano was entrusted to three resident artists at the Academy of Spain in Rome in 1957: architects José María García de Paredes (1924-1990) and Javier Carvajal (1926-2013) and sculptor Joaquín García Donaire (1926-2003). They proposed an open space devoid of religious symbols apart from the chapels around it. This work explores a new direction that moves away from the usual funerary monument: a symbolic space composed of two planes in equilibrium laid out on a smooth platform where there is no distinction between sculpture and architecture. This place is for those who take time to pause here, a permanent abode, to spend time with the absent and the present.