The Pantheon in Rome is one the best-preserved examples of ancient Roman architecture. Commissioned during the reign of Caesar Augustus and rebuilt during the reign of Emperor Hadrian in 126 AD, the building housed statues to many Roman gods. On May 13, 609 Pope Boniface I, having accepted the building from the Byzantine Emperor Phocas, turned it into a Catholic church and dedicated it to Mary the mother of Jesus and brought in cart-loads of relics. He renamed it Santa Maria ad Martyres.
