The Pantheon

The Pantheon's portico stands on sixteen monolithic granite columns quarried in Egypt and shipped to Rome. Inside, the floor is a geometric pattern of Egyptian granite, purple porphyry, giallo antico and pavonazzetto marble, laid nearly two thousand years ago and still in service.

No building makes a stronger case for natural stone as a long-duration material. The Pantheon's interior is also a useful reference for anyone considering patterned stone floors at scale: the restraint of a single repeated geometry, varied only by stone, keeps the floor legible rather than busy.

Many of the original stones are no longer quarried, but close equivalents in colour and pattern are available today from Egyptian, Italian and Turkish sources.