 Introduction
San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains) is a basilica in Rome it was built in order to house the chain from Constantinople that was said that to have been one of two used to bind St Peter when he was in prison carcere mamertino. The church is also renowned for the tomb with the famous statue of Moses by Michelangelo, which was commissioned by Pope Julius II.
 History
This small church was built around 440 AD to house a reliquary believed to contain the prison chains of Saint Peter while imprisoned in Jerusalem. Legend states that when the Jerusalem chains were brought to Rome by Empress Eudoxia (wife of Emperor Valentinian III) to give to Pope Leo I; to join with those from St. Peter's first imprisonment at the Maritime Prison, the two sets fused together miraculously. The chains and their reliquary are still kept here on display beneath the altar.
The basilica underwent several restorations and rebuildings, among them a restoration by Pope Adrian I, rebuilding by Pope Sixtus IV and by Pope Julius II. There was also a renovation in 1875. The front portico, attributed to Baccio Pontelli, was added in 1475. The cloister (1493-1503) has been attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo.
 Location
Address: Piazza di San Pietro in Vincoli, 4a , Rome.
 Interior
The interior has a nave and two aisles, with three apses divided by antique Doric-style columns. The aisles are surmounted by cross-vaults, while the nave has an 18th century lacunar ceiling, frescoed in the center by Giovanni Battista Parodi, portraying the Miracle of the Chains (1706). The church is renowned for the tomb with the famous statue of Moses by Michelangelo (completed 1515), this amazing work of art captures Moses, armed with the Ten Commandments, just at the moment he makes ready to return to the Children of Israel. The dazzling statue was originally intended to be part of a gargantuan, monumental tomb for and commissioned by Pope Julius II. About a year into the project, however, the Pope changed his mind and ordered Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel. Four years later he returned to his work on the tomb, but in an on-again/off-again fashion. He died having only completed Moses and The Dying Slaves (now housed in the Louvre). His students eventually completed the few other figures that he started, but they remain a far cry from his intended number of 48 statues.
Moses is depicted with horns, as opposed to the radiance of the Lord, due to the similarity in the Latin between the word for beams of light and horns. This kind of iconographoic symbolism was common in early sacred art, and in this case gives ease to the sculptor (as sculpting concrete horns is easier than sculpting abstract light) and would have been understood by all who saw it as referring to the radience of Moses' face; they would not have actually thought that he had horns.
Other art works include two canvas of Saint Augustine and St. Margret by Guercino, the monument of cardinal Girolamo Agucchi designed by Domenichino (also author of a sacristy fresco depicting the Liberation of St. Peter (1604). The altarpiece on the first chapel to the left is a Deposition by Pomarancio. The tomb of Nicolo Cardinal da Cusa (d 1464), with the relief Cardinal Nicholas before St Peter is by Andrea Bregno. Painter and sculptor Antonio Pollaiuolo is buried here. The cloister, built at the end of the 15th century, is also worth visiting.
 Useful information
Telephone: +39 064882865
Open:7am to 12:30pm and 3:30pm to 7pm.
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