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Home > Italy Travel Guide > St Peter's Basilica Travel Guide

St Peter's Basilica Travel Guide

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Introduction
Location
History

ATTRACTIONS

St Peters Tomb
The Dome
The Interior

USEFUL INFORMATION

Useful numbers
Links

Introduction

The Basilica of Saint Peter, officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and colloquially called Saint Peter's Basilica, ranks second among the four major basilicas of Rome (St John Lateran, St Peter's, Santa Maria Maggiore and St Paul outside the Walls). It is the most prominent building inside the Vatican City. Begun by Pope Julius II in 1506 and completed in 1615 under Paul V. It is designed as a three-aisled Latin cross with a dome at the crossing, directly above the high altar, which covers the shrine of St. Peter the Apostle. Ancient tradition holds that his tomb is below the baldachino and altar; for this reason, many Popes, starting with the first ones, have been buried there.

Location

Take Linea A (red line) toward Battistini and exit at Ottaviano-S. Pietro. Walk south on Via Ottaviano toward St. Peter's Square. Walking - From the city center, the most direct route is to cross the Tiber and walk straight up Via Conciliazioni. A more interesting route is to go under the Passetto arch near Castel S. Angelo and walk up Pio Borgo, providing a more dramatic entrance from the right (north) side of the Piazza.

History

The idea of building the church was conceived by Pope Nicholas V (reigned 1447?55), who was prompted by the state in which he found Old St. Peter's Basilica?walls leaning far out of the perpendicular and frescoes covered with dust. In 1452 Nicholas ordered Bernardo Rossellino to begin the construction of a new apse west of the old one, but the work stopped with Nicholas's death. Paul II, however, entrusted the project to Giuliano da Sangallo in 1470.

On April 18, 1506, Julius II laid the first stone for the new basilica. It was to be erected in the form of a Greek cross according to the plan of Donato Bramante. On Bramante's death (1514) Leo X commissioned as his successors Raphael, Fra Giocondo, and Giuliano da Sangallo, who modified the original Greek-cross plan to a Latin cross with three aisles separated by pillars. The architects after Raphael's death in 1520 were Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, Baldassarre Peruzzi, and Andrea Sansovino.

After the sack of Rome in 1527, Paul III (1534-49) entrusted the undertaking to Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who returned to Bramante's plan and erected a dividing wall between the area for the new basilica and the eastern part of the old one, which was still in use. On Sangallo's death (1546) Paul III commissioned the aged Michelangelo as chief architect, a post he held under Julius III and Pius IV. At the time of Michelangelo's death in 1564, the drum for the massive dome was practically complete. He was succeeded by Pirro Ligorio and Giacomo da Vignola. Gregory XIII (1572?85) placed Giacomo della Porta in charge of the work. The dome, modified from Michelangelo's design, was finally completed at the insistence of Sixtus V (1585?90), and Gregory XIV (1590?91) ordered the erection of the lantern above it. Clement VIII (1592?1605) demolished the apse of Old St. Peter's and erected the new high altar over the altar of Calixtus II.

Paul V (1605?21) adopted Carlo Maderno's plan, giving the basilica the form of a Latin cross by extending the nave to the east, thus completing the 615-foot- (187-metre-) long main structure. Maderno also completed the facade of St. Peter's and added an extra bay on each end to support campaniles. Although Maderno left designs for these campaniles, only one was built, and that was of a different design executed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1637. Under the commission of Alexander VII (1655?67) Bernini designed the elliptical piazza, outlined by colonnades, that serves as the approach to the basilica.

St Peters Tomb

On December 23, 1950, in his pre-Christmas broadcast on radio, Pope Pius XII announced the discovery of Saint Peter's tomb far below the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. This was the culmination of 10 years of archaeological research under the crypt of the basilica, carried out by two Jesuit archaeologists and their colleagues. Monsignor Ludwig Kaas, the administrator of St. Peter's, had overall authority over the project and reported about it directly to the Pope himself.

Between 1939 and 1949 this team had uncovered an impressive complex of mausoleums under the foundations of the church, dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. From their perspective the most spectacular find was, beyond doubt, the small monument under the present altar of the church which, all evidence suggests, was built as early as AD 160 to mark the tomb of St. Peter below it. Little did they know what a bizarre episode in Christian archaeology lay ahead of them. Although the scant remains of bones found in the tomb were initially identified as those of a man in his late sixties, more extensive study later revealed that they actually belonged to an older man, a younger man, a woman, a pig, a chicken, and a horse.

In 1942 Monsignor Kaas made a visit, he had noticed this second tomb in the monument, newly uncovered but yet unopened, and he ordered the workman accompanying him to open it. The tomb was not empty, and convinced that this was yet another burial that would soon be desecrated by the Jesuit archaeologists, Kaas ordered that the remains be removed and stored for safekeeping. Guarducci discovered these events by pure chance, and by that time Kaas had died. So when Paul VI, a family friend of the Guarduccis, was elected pope, she informed him of her belief that in fact these remains were the true remains of Peter. The bones were found where Kaas had stored them and when testing revealed that they did indeed belong to a man in his sixties, Paul VI officially announced, on June 26th 1968, that the relics of St. Peter had been discovered.

The Dome

The dome, or cupola, was designed by Michelangelo, who became chief architect in 1546. At the time of his death (1564), the dome was finished as far as the drum, the base on which a dome sits. The dome was vaulted between 1585 and 1590 by the architect Giacomo della Porta with the assistance of Domenico Fontana, who was probably the best engineer of the day. Fontana built the lantern the following year, and the ball was placed in 1593.

As built, the double dome is brick, 42.3 metres (138.8 ft) in interior diameter (almost as large as the Pantheon), rising to 120 metres (394 ft) above the floor. The four piers of the crossing that support it are each 18 metres (59 ft) across. It is not simply its vast scale (136.57 m or 448.06 ft) from the floor of the church to the top of the added cross) that makes it extraordinary. Michelangelo's dome is not a hemisphere, but a paraboloid: it has a vertical thrust, which is made more emphatic by the bold ribbing that springs from the paired Corinthian columns, which appear to be part of the drum, but which stand away from it like buttresses, to absorb the outward thrust of the dome's weight. Above, the vaulted dome rises to Fontana's two-stage lantern, capped with a spire.

The egg-shaped dome exerts less outward thrust than a lower hemispheric one (such as Mansart's at Les Invalides) would have done. The dome conceived by Donato Bramante at the outset in 1503 was planned to be carried out with a single masonry shell, a plan discovered to be infeasible. San Gallo came up with the double shell, and Michelangelo improved upon it. The piers at the crossing, which were the first masonry to be laid, and which were intended to support the original dome, were a constant concern, too slender in Bramante's plan, they were redesigned several times as the dome plans evolved.

The Interior

Walking along the right aisle of the basilica, there are several noteworthy monuments and memorials. The first is Michelangelo's Pieta, located immediately to the right of the entrance. Up the aisle is the monument of Queen Christina of Sweden, who abdicated in 1654 in order to convert to Catholicism. Further up are the monuments of popes Pius XI and Pius XII, as well as the altar of St Sebastian. Even further up is the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, which is open during religious services only. Inside it is a tabernacle on the altar resembling Bramante's Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio. Bernini sculpted this gilded bronze tabernacle in 1674. The two kneeling angels were added later. Further still are the monuments of popes Gregory XIII (completed in 1723 by Carlo Rusconi) and Gregory XIV.

In the northwestern corner of the nave sits the statue of St Peter Enthroned, attributed to late 13th century sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio. The foot of the statue is eroded due to centuries of pilgrims kissing it. Along the pilasters are niches housing 39 statues of saints who founded religious orders.

Walking down the left aisle there is the Altar of Transfiguration. Walking down towards the entrance are the monuments to Leo XI and Innocent XI followed by the Chapel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. After that come the monuments to Pius X and Innocent VIII, then the monuments to John XXIII and Benedict XV, and the Chapel of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin. After that comes the Monument to the Royal Stuarts, directly opposite the one to Maria Clementina Sobieska. Symmetrically, the two monarchs who gave up their thrones for their Catholic faith in the 17th century, are honored side by side in the most important church in Catholicism. Finally, right before the end of the church, is the Baptistry.

The right transept contains three altars, of St Wenceslas, St Processo and St Martiniano, and St Erasmus. The left transept also contains three altars, that of St Peter's Crucifixion, St Joseph and St Thomas. West of the left transept is the monument to Alexander VII by Bernini. A skeleton lifts a fold of red marble drapery and holds an hourglass symbolising the inevitability of death. He is flanked on the right by a statue representing religion, who holds her foot atop a globe, with a thorn piercing her toe from the British Isles, symbolizing the pope's problems with the Church of England.

Over the main altar stands a 30 metres (98 ft) tall baldachin held by four immense pillars, all designed by Bernini between 1624 and 1632. The baldachin was built to fill the space beneath the cupola, and it is said that the bronze used to make it was taken from the Pantheon. The representation of a chair, part of the sculpture, is said to contain the remnants of the chair belonging to Saint Peter (It is also said that it is the largest bronze piece in the world.) Underneath the baldachin is the traditional tomb of St Peter. In the four corners surrounding the baldachin are statues of St Helena, St Longinus, St Andrew and St Veronica. Each of these statues represents a relic associated with the person, respectively, a piece of The Cross, the Spear of Destiny, St Andrew's head (as well as part of his cross) and Veronica's Veil. In 1964, St Andrew's head was returned to the Greek Orthodox Church by the Pope. It should be noted that the Vatican makes no claims as to the authenticity of several of these relics, and in fact other Catholic churches also possess "the same" relics. Along the base of the inside of the dome is written, in letters 2 metres (6.5 ft) high, TV ES PETRVS ET SVPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM. TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI CAELORVM (Vulgate, from Matthew 16:18-19; "...you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. ... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven...."). Near the top of the dome is another, smaller, circular inscription: S. PETRI GLORIAE SIXTVS PP. V. A. M. D. XC. PONTIF. V. (To the glory of St Peter; Sixtus V, pope, in the year 1590 and the fifth year of his pontificate). The Burial of St Petronilla is an altarpiece painted by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino) in 1623. It simultaneously depicts the burial and the welcoming to heaven of the martyred St Petronilla. The altar is dedicated to the saint, and contains her relics.

At the apse of the church is the Triumph of the Chair of Saint Peter (1666) by Bernini, a focus of the Feast of Cathedra Petri celebrated annually on February 22 in accordance to the calendar of saints. The triumph is topped by a yellow window in which is a dove, portraying the Holy Spirit, surrounded by twelve rays, symbolising the apostles. Beneath it is the bronze encasing of the relic of the chair of St Peter, given to the Vatican from Charles the Bald in 875. To the right of the chair are St Ambrose and St Augustine (fathers of the Latin church), and to the left are St Athanasius and St John Chrysostom (fathers of the Greek church). Further to the right is the monument to Urban VIII, by Bernini, and further to the left is the monument to Paul III.

Useful numbers

Hours: St. Peter's Basilica is open daily, Apr-Sep 7:00-19:00; Oct-Mar 7:00-18:00
Sacristy (011) 39 06 6988 3712
Parish Office (011) 39 06 6988 5435
Vatican Switchboard (011) 39 06 6982

Links

Of Bones and Boners: St. Peter at the Vatican

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