Page 132 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

St. Peter's Basilica, Rome

Catholicism's most sacred shrine, the sumptuous,
marble-clad St. Peter's Basilica draws pilgrims and
tourists from all over the world. It holds hundreds
of precious works of art, some salvaged from the
original 4th-century basilica built by Emperor
Constantine, others commissioned from
Renaissance and Baroque artists. The dominant
13th-century mosaic
tone is set by Bernini, who created the baldacchino by Giotto, Grottoes
twisting up below Michelangelo's huge dome.
He also created the cathedra in the apse, with Dome of St. Peter's
The 448-ft ( 136 .5-m)
four saints supporting a throne that
A Piazza San Pietro high Renaissance
On S undays, and on special contains fragments once thought to be dome was designed
occasions such as religious by Michelangelo,
festivals and canonizations, relics of the chair from which S t. P eter although it was
the pope blesses the crowds delivered his first sermon. not completed
from a balcony overlooking in his lifetime.
Bernini's colonnaded square
in front of St. Peter's Basilica. Staircase
537 narrow;----~~~~
steps lead to
the summit of
the dome.
-< Monument to
Pope Alexander VII
Bernini's last work in St. Peter's
was finished in 1678 and shows
the C higi pope a rnong the
allegorical figures of Truth.
Jusbce. Charity. and Prudence.
-< Michelangelo's
Piela ~ Baldacchino
Protected by glass C orrYT1ssioned by
Pope Urban VIII
since an attack in in 1624, Bernini's
1972, this beautiful extravagant Baroque
marble sculpture
of Mary holding canopy stands above
St. Peter's tomb.
the dead Christ was
created in 1499.
Y Tomb of Pius XI ~ Monument to
Pope Alexander VII

~ Papal Altar

Entra nee to Historical
Artistic Museum
and Sacristy
St. Peter's Basilica is 610ft
Y Baldac<hino (186m) long

Nave
Markings on the floor
of the nave show
hem other churches
compare in length.

-< Papal Altar
This stands over the
crypt where St. Peter
is reputedly buried.