the view from the Pantheon

so when i was in my third year as a History major, i took a class which talked about the issues and relationship between memory, heritage and history. our Italian prof, in his wonderful accent, introduced the heritage of Rome to the class, clicking through the powerpoint slides.

that class went past in a daze. i never really understood anything and scored a miserable grade. perhaps the Italian accent, reading John Ruskin's Stones of Venice (which i later wrote a paper on while on Exchange), more than made up for it.

but i visited the Pantheon last summer. the tiny "window" at the top of the dome, the light streaming in at a different angle each time we looked up, tourists and travellers alike laying on the ground to capture the beauty of this "window".

i ran into the prof after i returned from exchange, i said "oh i get what you were saying in class now!" he exclaimed "finally!"

(s, marvelling at the anonymous architect's ingenuity)