The Vatican - Part 3 - Saint Peter's Basilica

    When one pictures the Vatican, the first sight that comes to mind is St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square.



The large obelisk in the middle of St. Peter's Square was brought back to Rome by the emperor Caligula  from Heliopolis, Egypt. It was later used by the emperor Nero as the turning post for the chariot races in his circus, where he held chariot races and persecuted Christians. 

Atop the obelisk the Church has placed a cross.

 St. Peter's Square

     Piazza San Pietro, or St. Peter's Square is actually a large oval, and one of the world's great public spaces.  Seen from the air, the piazza looks like a giant keyhole with two semicircular colonnades on each side of the basilica.  The colonnades, consisting of 284 columns, four columns deep, and topped with 140 saints gives the impression of enfolding arms.  The colonnades designer, Gianlorenzo Bernini did this deliberately. He described the colonnades as "the motherly arms of the church."  During Bernini's time, a jumble of narrow streets surrounded the Vatican, and the open space with the open arms was very attractive.  Unfortunately, Mussolini ruined part of the effect when he built the straight and wide Via della Conciliazone - which is quite the shopping area.     

Walking through the huge columns reminds me of the Great Hypostyle Hall at the Karnak temple complex
in Luxor, Egypt.

This is the gated boundary line of the Vatican. The building is in Italy. I was standing in Vatican City when I took the
picture.

Saints atop the colonnade

Christ in the center.  Paul to the left, and Peter to the right.

The sculpture above the colonnade is fascinating. At the top, one can see two keys.
These symbolize the keys given to Peter from Christ.

The Basilica


      The site of St. Peter's Basilica is on the site of Nero's stadium, the Ager Vaticanus. where Peter the Apostle was said to be put to death sometime between  64-67 AD. He would have been buried nearby as well. The first basilica to be built here was built by Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor in the 4th century.

       The basilica stood for hundreds of years, but eventually fell into disrepair. In the mid-1400s Pope Nicholas V made an effort to restore the basilica.  Pope Julius II was more successful. In 1506, architect Donato Bramante came up with a new basilica design in the Greek cross style with one large dome, and four smaller domes.  He attracted a lot of criticism as the original basilica was torn down, and many Byzantine mosaics and frescoes were lost.

       It took over 150 years to complete the basilica, which is the second largest in the world. Bramante, Raphael, Carlo Maderno, Antonio da Sangallo, and Giacomo della Porta contributed to the design of the building. In 1547, Michelangelo, at the age of 72, took over the project and was responsible for the design of the dome.

This canopy, known as the baldachin, stands over the high alter, where only
the Pope can officiate.  The high alter sits on the site of St. Peter's grave.
All of this is under the great dome. It was very difficult to get near this to even get a
picture, yet alone, a good one.

Standing underneath the dome.
One can actually climb to the top of the dome. I was all for doing this,
but after being in the museums my feet were hurting, and I knew I would not have the
strength to climb over 300 stairs. The top of the baldachin is at the bottom of this picture.

 



     After Michelangelo's death, Carlo Maderno took over and designed the facade and portico.  He was told, by whom I don't know, to lengthen the nave of the building. Doing so altered Bramante's original Greek cross plan to a Latin cross.
 

The façade and Portico 

From this balcony the Pope gives his weekly Sunday Mass.

 

 

     The interior of the building is fantastic.  The basilica can hold up to 60,000 people.  It is 187 meters long and 15,000 square meters in area.  The interior is largely the work of Bernini and Giacomo della Porta.  The basilica holds some incredible pieces of art.  The main sculpture is Michelangelo's Pieta, which he sculpted when he was 25 years old, and the only work to carry his signature.  The statue is of Mary, the mother of Christ, holding her son's body after he is taken off the cross.  I had waited almost 30 years to see the statue, and I was not going to let anyone shoo me away.  It was a very emotional experience.  As I was finally getting to gaze on this incredible piece of art, I was struck with the thought that this was not Mary, the mother of Christ, but Mary Magdalene.  It was a very powerful thought, and no doubt art scholars will tell me I am wrong. 

 

 

The statue is housed behind glass.



 The following two photos I took using a postcard so I could show greater detail.

      The basilica is so vast, and with so many chapels, and pieces of art, that I would have to go back a second time and just spend a day documenting what I saw. I was clearly not prepared for this incredible space.

 

 

  

This statue, I think one of the St. Catherines, was quite high up, and hard for me to get
a good focus on.  My hands tremble as it is, and by this time I was very tired.  There are statues
of saints all over, and I would love to go back an photograph my favorites.



The list of popes buried at St. Peter's.   Peter the Apostle would have been buried in the area
following his death.  Excavations under the basilica started in the 1940s.  Part of the original
basilica was discovered. In 1942 the bones of an elderly, strongly built man were discovered in a box.  The
box was hidden behind a wall covered by pilgrims' graffiti. These bones, and the surrounding area
went through over 30 years of forensic examination.  In 1976, Pope Paul VI declared the bones to be those of
St. Peter.  The tomb of St. Peter, and other excavations can be visited, but one has to book way in
advance to do this.  I did not know this was an option.

The Vatican issues its own stamps, and has a mobile post office for tourists to buy them and mail postcards.