St Peter's Basilica

The first church dedicated to St Peter was built at the beginning of the fourth century by Constantine, the first Christian Emperor. It was constructed over what was believed to be the burial place of St Peter, the first bishop of Rome. 

Constantine's church consisted of a nave, four aisles and a narrow transept. It was separated from the piazza by an atrium, which came to be known as the ‘garden of paradise’, because of the beauty of its plants. In the centre was a fountain and in the centre of the fountain was huge bronze pine cone, which dated back to the days of ancient Rome. The pine cone adorns one of the courtyards in the Vatican. The piazza itself was filled with booths and stalls serving and exploiting the needs of the pilgrims.

The interior of the church was sumptuously decorated in gold and silver. Its many precious mosaics were lit by hundreds of candles, which were kept burning before the 52 altars. Below the triumphal arch hung a huge cross between two keys. Beneath this was the Pharos, a colossal candelabra capable of holding over 1,000 candles, which were only lit at Christmas and Easter. Two relics were preserved in chapels: St Peter’s Chair and Veronica’s Veil.

By the 15th century, however, the church was in a parlous state and, in 1452, Pope Nicolas V appointed the Florentine sculptor and architect, Bernardo Rossellino, to remedy the many structural faults. Three years later, however, the pope died and all interest in the project was lost. In 1503, Pope Julius II returned to the project with a vengeance, coming up with the radical idea of building a new church rather mending the old one. No Pope less self-confident than Julius II could have even contemplated the idea of rebuilding one of the most hallowed churches in Christendom. He appointed Donato Bramante as his architect.

The first stone was laid on April 18th, 1506, but the task of rebuilding well over a century. The new St Peter's would not be consecrated until November 18th, 1626. The programme had taken 120 years to complete, during which time 20 popes had died and 10 architects had been consulted.

The interior with its 450 statues, 500 columns and 50 altars is reputed to be able to hold 60,000 people. 

In the first chapel on the right, sits the Basilica's most famous work of art, Michelangelo's 'Pieta'.  it was commissioned, in 1498, by the French Ambassador, Cardinal Jean de Billheres Lagraulas. The work was originally in the French chapel of S. Petronilla, which was attached to the south transept of the old St Peter’s. The hands and feet of Christ are marked with the wounds of the crucifixion. His left foot rests against the stump of a tree, which represents life cut off in its prime. And yet the tree also promises renewed life. The position of Christ draped across his mother's lap recalls the origin of his birth. After the sculpture was attacked on May 21st, 1972, it has been protected by plate glass.

The square in front of the church was designed by Bernini and begun in 1656 and completed in 1667. At its widest point it measures 196m. The colonnade is made up of two rows of two columns, each13m tall, and is surmounted by 140 statues of Saints, Martyrs and Doctors of the church. In the middle of each arm of the colonnade can be seen  coat of arms of Pope Alexander VII, the reigning Pontiff when work first started.

Soaring in the centre of the square is one of Rome's many Egyptian obelisks, which was originally brought to the city by the Emperor Caligula (37-41), in a ship specially built for the purpose. The obelisk was erected a couple of hundred metres from its present site, in the centre of what was then a Circus. (This was where the emperor Nero learnt to race chariots). Ancient tradition maintained that St Peter was martyred at the foot of the obelisk and buried in the adjacent cemetery. For more information about the obelisks in Rome, see my article: Obelisks

The dozen or so museums, which make up the Vatican Museums, comprise a bewildering collection of objects, drawn from the world of ancient Egypt and the Etruscans to the modern day. Their collection of ancient Roman sculpture is one of the greatest in the world and the jewel in the crown is probably the magnificent sculpture of 'Laocoon'.

The statue was unearthed on January 16th, 1506, in the area near the Colosseum. It was immediately thought to be the work which Pliny the Elder had written about, but a second opinion was called for. It was given by no less an authority on sculpture than Michelangelo, who happened to be in Rome that winter. He visited the site of the excavation along with a friend and fellow Florentine, Giuliano da Sangallo. They both agreed that it was the celebrated statue of Laocoon and urged the Pope to buy it. Julius II took very little persuasion and the statue was transported to the Vatican accompanied by chanting from the choir of the Sistine Chapel.

Laocoon was a Trojan priest, who incurred the wrath of the Gods when he challenged the authenticity of a wooden horse, which the Greeks had left as a present to the Trojans, outside the gates of their city. The sculpture represents the death of Laocoon and his two sons, all of whom can be seen struggling in vain against the assault of mighty sea serpents.

More has been written about this sculpture than probably any other sculpture in the world and yet no one can agree when or who actually carved it.

It made a huge impression on Michelangelo who quotes from it in several images on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo signed the contract to paint the ceiling on May 10th, 1508. Four and a half years later, on October 31st, 1512, it was finished.

The Sistine Chapel had been built at the end of the 1470s, under the pontificate of Pope Sixtus IV, hence its name. The Pope had called in the best artists of his day to fresco the walls, figures such as Perugino, Botticelli and Ghirlandaio. Today, their considerable achievement is, more often than not, overlooked, as people crane their necks to see the ceiling.

Twenty five years later, the Pope's nephew, Julius II, decided to have the ceiling of the chapel repainted. (At the time, the ceiling was painted blue with gold stars to represent the heavens). He called in Michelangelo, who was already in his employment at work on an enormous tomb for the Pope. Why Julius chose Michelangelo, a self-professed sculptor, we shall never know! The latter was quick to protest, claiming that he had no knowledge of fresco painting. But the Pope was not a man to take no for an answer. He was insistent and as a result of his insistence, he gave the world one of its greatest works of art.

Michelangelo's painting was a breathtaking achievement, both in terms of sheer physical as well as creative energy. The chapel is 130 feet long, forty five feet wide and the ceiling is over sixty five feet from the ground. The bulk of the ceiling is frescoed with seven scenes from the book of Genesis, flanked by images of Old Testament prophets and ancient Sibyls. It made a powerful impact when it was finally unveiled in 1512 and has continued to do so ever since. In 2007, almost four and a half million people visited the Vatican Museums and the vast majority had been drawn there to see Michelangelo's ceiling.

While Michelangelo was beavering away in the Sistine Chapel, fewer than 200 yards away a somewhat younger artist was busy painting the private apartments of the Pope. His name was Raphael. He had been commissioned as part of a team of artists to paint the Pope's library, what is now known as the Stanza della Segnatura. It didn't take the Pope long to recognise Raphael's genius, to dismiss the rest of the team and leave Raphael to paint the library on his own.

On one of the walls he painted an image, which sums up the High Renaissance in terms of its clarity of design and sense of classical harmony. It came to be known as 'The School of Athens' and depicts a selection of the most famous Greek philosophers, including, in the centre, Plato and Aristotle.

By the time he came to paint the room known as the Stanza dell' Incendio, the demands on Raphael's time were so great that he did no more than provide the designs, leaving the actual frescoes to his assistants.