How the Pantheon, which was built over 2000 years ago, is still standing when buildings made 150 years ago are about to crumble.

Question

Edit- After reading most of the comments the general consensus is listed below:

1. The unique composite matrix of the concrete used gives it a self-healing property. When cracks form in the concrete, it will naturally seal them.
2. The Pantheon was a very significant structure which led to meticulous maintenance and restorations
3. The Romans didn’t have modern engineering. So they didn’t know exactly how strong they’d have to build the Pantheon to make it last. Their solution was to overbuild the hell out of it.
4. Survivorship bias. There were thousands of buildings constructed by the Romans but very few remain which are the ones we marvel at.

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In: 564

Answer 1

The Pantheon was one of the most, if not the most important temple in ancient Rome. After Rome fell, it then became a church in the 7th century, again a pretty important one. It has been maintained and restored constantly since it was built. Thats why its still standing.

Meanwhile, if you go visit Rome today, you will find a huge amount of ancient roman ruins that were built before and after the Pantheon. But 99% of them are just that: ruins. A wall there, a pillar here, some small piece of mosaic there…

The reason the Pantheon survived and the other buildings didn’t was because it was maintained. And the reason 150 year old buildings today crumble is because they are not maintained. The ones that are can easily survive for hundreds and thousands of years. As a matter of fact, pretty much every city centre in Europe has buildings that are several hundred years old, and are in no way crumbling. Shit, the oldest church in my municipality was built in the 14th century and its still used today. We used to have band practice in a building that is first mentioned in 1320.

So yeah. The only reason 150 year old buildings are collapsing is cause they arent taken care of.