The BASILICA of ST PETER
BASILICA SANTI PETRI--Latin
BASILICA di SAN PIETRO in VATICANO--Italian

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Capacity 60,000, largest church in the world

"You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven...."
Vulgate, Matthew 16:18-19

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Commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica, is located within the Vatican City in Rome. Underneath the altar is the burial site of St Peter, the first Bishop of Antioch, and later first Bishop of Rome. The Basilica of St. Peter is one of four major basilicas of Rome, the others being the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and St. Paul outside the Walls, as shown in other galleries of this website. St Peter�s is probably the largest church in Christiandom, it covers an area of 5.7 acres and has a capacity of over 60,000 people.

Many Popes, starting with the first ones, have been buried there. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century. Construction on the present basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica, began on April 18, 1506 and was completed in 1626.

St. Peter's is famous as a place of pilgrimage, for its liturgical functions and for its historical associations. It is associated with the papacy, and with numerous artists, most significantly Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age.
December 23, 1950, in his pre-Christmas radio broadcast to the world, Pope Pius XII announced the discovery of St Peter's tomb, which had been 10 years of archaeological research under the crypt of the basilica, an area inaccessible since the 9th century. The burial place appears to have been an underground vault, with a structure above it believed to have been built by Pope Anacletus in the 1st century. Human remains were discovered, but it could not be ascertained with any certainty if they were indeed the bones of the apostle Peter.

__________________________HISTORY of BASILLICA_____________________


By the end of the 15th century, neglected during the period of the Avignon Papacy, the old basilica was in bad repair. Pope Nicholas V(1447 � 55) made radical modifications of the old of the building. His reign was frustrated by political problems and when he died, little had been achieved. He had, however, had 2,522 cartloads of stone transported from the Roman Coliseum.
In 1505, Pope Julius II, made a decision to demolish the ancient building and replace with something grander. A succession of popes and architects followed in the next 120 years, their combined efforts resulting in the present building. The scheme begun by Pope Julius II continued through the reigns of Leo X (1513 1521), Hadrian VI (1522 � 1523). Clement VII (1523 � 1534), Paul III (1534 � 1549), Julius III (1550 � 1555), Marcellus II (1555), Paul IV (1555 � 1559), Pius IV (1559 � 1565), Pius V (saint) (1565 � 1572), Gregory XIII (1572 � 1585), Sixtus V (1585 � 1590), Urban VII (1590), Gregory XIV (1590 � 1591), Innocent IX (1591), Clement VIII(1592 � 1605), Leo XI (1605), Paul V (1605 � 1621), Gregory XV (1621 � 1623), Urban VIII (1623 � 1644) and Innocent X (1644 � 1655).
Successive design plans include Bramante�s, Raphael�s main floor plan, Michelangelo's plan, extended with Maderna's nave and fa�ade.

Pope Julius laid down the scheme for the grandest building in Christendom. Bramante�s design was selected, and the foundation stone was laid in 1506. This plan was in the form of an enormous Greek Cross with a dome inspired by that of the huge circular Roman temple, the Pantheon, except being supported only on four large piers.

When Pope Julius died in 1513, Bramante was replaced with Giuliano da Sangallo, Fra Giocondo and Raphael. Sangallo and Fra Giocondo both died in 1515. The main change in Raphael's plan is the nave of five bays, with a row of complex apsidal chapels off the aisles on either side, the chancel and transepts made the squareness of the exterior walls more definite by reducing the size of the towers, and the semi-circular apses more clearly defined by encircling each with an ambulatory.
In 1520 Raphael also died, in his early 30s, and his successor Peruzzi maintained changes that Raphael had proposed the three main internal apses, but otherwise reverted to the Greek Cross plan and other features of Bramante. However, in 1527 Rome was sacked and plundered by Emperor Charles V. Peruzzi died in 1536. This plan was not materialized.

At this point Antonio da Sangallo, "Sangallo the Younger" combined features of Peruzzi, Raphael and Bramante in its design and extends the building into a short nave with a wide facade and portico of dynamic projection. His proposal for the dome was much more elaborated of both structure and decoration than that of Bramante and included ribs on the exterior. Like Bramante, Sangallo proposed that the dome be surmounted by a lantern which he redesigned to a larger and much more elaborate form. Sangallo's main practical contribution was to strengthen Bramante's piers which had begun to crack.

In 1547 in the reign of Pope Paul III, Michelangelo, then in his 70s, succeeded Sangallo the Younger as "Capomaestro", the superintendent of the building program at St Peter's, and regarded as the principal designer of a large part of the building as it stands today. He took on the job under pressure by Pope Paul. Michelangelo wrote "I undertake this only for the love of God and in honour of the Apostle." He insisted that he should be given a free hand to achieve the ultimate aim by whatever means he saw fit.

MICHELANGELO�S CONTRIBUTION

Michelangelo took over a building site at which four piers, enormous beyond any constructed since the days of Ancient Rome, were rising behind the remaining nave of the old basilica, and redesigned some of the greatest architectural and engineering brains of the 16th century. They all called for a dome to equal that engineered by Brunelleschi a century earlier and which has since dominated the skyline of Renaissance Florence, and symmetrical plan of either Greek Cross form, like the iconic St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, or of a Latin Cross with the transepts similar to Florence Cathedral.
Even though the work had progressed only a little in 40 years, Michelangelo maintained essential quality of Bramante's original design as cohesive unity with the Greek Cross.
As it stands today, St. Peter's has been extended with a nave by Carlo Maderno. It is the chancel end with its huge centrally placed dome that is the work of Michelangelo. Because of its location within the Vatican State and because the projection of the nave screens the dome from sight when the building is approached from the square in front of it, the work of Michelangelo is best appreciated from a distance.

The CHANGE of PLAN

On The first day of Lent, February 18, 1606, under Pope Paul V, the demolition of the remaining parts of the Constantinian basilica began. The marble cross set at the top of the pediment by Pope Sylvester and the Emperor Constantine was lowered to the ground. The timbers were salvaged for the roof of the Borghese Palace and two rare black marble columns, the largest of their kind, were carefully stored and later used in the narthex. The tombs of various popes were opened, treasures removed and plans made in the new basilica.

The Pope had appointed Carlo Maderno, 1602, a dynamic architect. Maderno's idea was to ring Michelangelo's building with chapels, but the Pope was hesitant about deviating from the master's plan, even though he had been dead for forty years. In 1607 the Fabbrica, building committee of ten architects was called together, and a decision was made to extend Michelangelo's building into a nave. Maderno's plans for both the nave and the facade were accepted. The building began on May 7, 1607 and proceeded at a great rate, with an army of 700 labourers being employed. The following year, the facade was begun, in December 1614 the final touches were added to the stucco decoration of the vault and early in 1615 the partition wall between the two sections was pulled down. All the rubble was carted away, and the nave was ready for use by Palm Sunday.

_______________________MADERNO�S FACADE _____________________

The fa�ade designed by Maderno, is 114.69m (376.28 ft) wide and 45.55m (149.44 ft) high and is built of travertine stone, with a giant order of Corinthian columns and a central pediment rising in front of a tall attic surmounted by statues of Christ, John the Baptist, and eleven of the apostles. The inscription on the facade reads:

IN HONOREM PRINCIPIS APOST PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS PONT MAX AN MDCXII PONT VII
In honor of the prince of apostles by Paul V Borghese, a Roman, Supreme Pontiff, in the year 1612 and the seventh year of his pontificate

The fa�ade is often cited as the least satisfactory part of the design of St. Peter's, was viewed as not given enough consideration by the Pope and committee because of the desire to get the building completed quickly, coupled with the fact that Maderno was hesitant to deviate from the pattern set by Michelangelo at the other end of the building. The problems of the facade as being too broad for its height, too cramped in its details and too heavy in the attic storey. The breadth is caused by modifying the plan to have towers on either side. These towers were never executed above the line of the facade because it was discovered that the ground was not sufficiently stable to bear the weight. One effect of the facade and lengthened nave is to screen the view of the dome, so that the building, from the front, has no vertical feature, except from a distance.

________________DOME_____________
Successive designs and final solution


The dome of St. Peter's rises to a total height of 448.06 ft from the floor of the basilica to the top of the external cross. It is the tallest dome in the world, and that of Christendom. Its internal diameter is 136.06 ft, slightly smaller than the 2 other preceding huge domes, Pantheon of Ancient Rome and the Florence Cathedral of the Early Renaissance. Bramante's design followed the Pantheon very closely, was constructed in tufa concrete for which he had rediscovered a formula. With the exception of the lantern that surmounts it, except that in this case the supporting wall becomes a drum raised high above ground level on four massive piers. The solid wall, as used at the Pantheon, is lightened at St. Peter's by Bramante piercing it with windows and encircling it with a peristyle.

Giacomo della Porta and Fontana brought the dome to a completion in 1590, the last year of the reign of Sixtus V. His successor, Gregory XIV, saw Fontana complete the lantern and had an inscription to the honour of Sixtus V placed around its inner opening. The next pope, Clement III, had the cross raised into place, and event which took all day, with the ringing of the bells of all the city's churches. In the arms of the cross are set two lead caskets, one containing a fragment of the True Cross and a relic of St. Andrew and the other containing medallions of the Holy Lamb.
Around the inside of the dome is written, in letters 2m (6.5 ft) high:

TV ES PETRVS ET SVPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM. TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI CAELORVM
...you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. ... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven...." Vulgate, Matthew 16:18-19

Beneath the lantern is the 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.

__________NARTHEX and PORTALS __________

Behind the facade of St. Peter's stretches a long portico or NARTHEX such as was occasionally found in Italian Romanesque churches. This is the part of Maderno's design with which he was most satisfied. Its long barrel vault is decorated with ornate stucco and gilt, and successfully illuminated by small windows between pendentives, while the ornate marble floor is beamed with light reflected in from the piazza. At each end of the narthex is a rather theatrical space framed by ionic columns in each of which is set and equestrian figure, Charlemagne by Cornacchini (18th century) to the south and Emperor Constantine by Bernini (1670) to the north.

Five portals, of which three are framed by huge salvaged antique columns, lead into the basilica. The central portals has a bronze door created by Antonio Averulino in 1455 for the old basilica and somewhat enlarged to fit the new space.

_______________MADERNO�S NAVE_________________
Looking towards the chancel

In addition to the single bay of Michelangelo's Greek Cross, Maderno added a further three bays. He made the dimensions slightly different to Michelangelo's bay, which makes it quite clear to the observer where the two architectural works meet. Maderno also tilted the axis of the nave slightly.
The nave has huge paired pilasters, in keeping with Michelangelo's work. The size of the interior is so "stupendously large" that it is hard to get a sense of scale within the building. The four cherubs carry between them two Holy Water basins, appear of quite normal cherubic size, until approached, over 2m high. The aisles each have two smaller chapels and a larger rectangular chapel, the Chapel of the Sacrament and the Choir Chapel. These are lavishly decorated with marble, stucco, gilt, sculpture and mosaic. Remarkably, there are very few paintings, although some, such as Raphael's "Sistine Madonna" have been reproduced in mosaic. The most precious painting is a small icon of the Madonna, removed from the old basilica.

Maderno's last work at St. Peter's was to design a crypt-like space or "Confessio" under the dome, where the Cardinals and other privileged persons could descend in order to be nearer the burial place of the apostle. Its marble steps are remnants of the old basilica and around its balustrade are 95 bronze lamps.

________________BALDACCHINO and NICHES ______________

Bernini's first work at St. Peter's was to design the baldacchino, a pavilion-like structure 30m (98 ft) tall, a largest piece of bronze in the world, which stands beneath the dome and above the altar. It serves holy space above and around the table on which the Sacrament is laid for the Eucharist and emphasizing the significance of the liturgy.

Their twisted barley-sugar shape had a special significance as the column to which Jesus was bound before his crucifixion was believed to be of that shape. Based on these columns, Bernini created four huge columns of bronze, twisted and decorated with olive leaves and bees, which were the emblem of Pope Urban. The baldacchino is surmounted not with an architectural pediment, like most baldacchino, but with curved Baroque brackets supporting a draped canopy, like the brocade canopies carried in processions above precious iconic images. In this case, the draped canopy is of bronze, and all the details, including the olive leaves, bees, and the portrait heads of Urban's niece in childbirth and her newborn son, are picked out in gold leaf. The baldacchino stands as a vast free-standing sculptural object, central to and framed by the largest space within the building. Its large structure is visually seen from every direction.

In the central space of the church, Bernini had the huge piers, begun by Bramante and completed by Michelangelo, hollowed out into niches, and had staircases made inside them, leading to four balconies. On the balconies Bernini created showcases, framed by the eight ancient twisted columns, to display the four most precious relics of the basilica, the spear of Longinus, said to have pierced the side of Christ, the veil of Veronica, with the miraculous image of the face of Christ, a fragment of the True Cross discovered in Jerusalem by Constantine's mother, Helena, and a relic of St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter. In each of the niches that surround the central space of the basilica was placed a huge statue of the saint associated with the relic above. Only St. Longinus is the work of Bernini.

____________CATTEDRA PETRI and CHAPEL of the SACRAMENT___________
Bernini's CATTEDRA PETRI and GLORIA

Bernini worked on the precious relic, the Cathedra Petri or "throne of St. Peter" a chair claimed to have been used by the apostle, but appears to date from the 12th century. Pope Alexander VII determined to enshrine the deteriorating chair in suitable splendor. Bernini created a large bronze throne in which it was house, raised high on four looping supports held by massive bronze statues four Doctors of the Church, Saints Ambrose and Augustine representing the Latin Church and Athanasius and John Chrysostum the Greek Church. The four figures are dynamic with sweeping robes and expressions of adoration and ecstasy. Behind and above the Cattedra, a blaze of light comes in through a window of yellow alabaster, illuminating, at its centre, the Dove of the Holy Spirit. The elderly painter, Andrea Sacchi, had urged Bernini to make the figures large, so that they would well from the central portal of the nave. The chair was enshrined in its new home with great celebration of January 16, 1666.

Bernini's final work for St. Peter's, undertaken in 1676, was the decoration of the Chapel of the Sacrament. To hold the sacramental Host, he designed a miniature version in gilt bronze of Bramante's Tempietto, the little chapel that marks the place of the death of St. Peter. On either side is an angel, one gazing in rapt adoration and the other looking towards the viewer in welcome. Bernini died in 1680 in his 82nd year.



Visit the virtual St. Peter's tomb from the Vatican's website. Excavated under Clementine Chapel during 1939-50 excavation
http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/necropoli/scavi_english.html


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