Past Passport

Past Passport

The Pantheon’s Columns Were Meant to Be Taller. Something Went Wrong.

Stand in the piazza facing the Pantheon long enough, and you may see it.

Joseph Pickett's avatar
Joseph Pickett
Apr 07, 2026
∙ Paid
Stand here long enough… something feels off.

The tall brown columns.
The shadow beneath the pediment.
And the way the Pantheon entrance almost presses downward.

Is…something off?

Yes. The columns are too short.

They were meant to be taller.

Look up along one from the base — Egyptian granite, dark and worn smooth by two thousand years of weather and admiring hands. Follow it upward and imagine it continuing just a few more feet.

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