No visit to Rome is complete without a visit to St. Peter’s Basilica.
The present basilica is around five hundred years old and is thought to
be built over the burial place of St. Peter, Bishop of Rome and the first
Pope. It replaced an older church which had stood there for a thousand
years. It was Pope Julius 2nd who commissioned the tearing down of the
older church and its replacement with a grand basilica that would properly
reflect the fact that Rome was the Seat of Peter and the centre of the
Roman Catholic Church. Many famous architects and artists colloborated
in designing, building and decorating St.Peter’s, including Michaelangelo
and Raphael. In all it took almost one hundred and twenty years to fully
complete. Michaelangelo was responsible for the huge dome and supporting
drum but died in 1564, before work was finally completed in 1590.
The basilica's interior is an unashamed display of the power of the Church.
Amid the grandeur, in the first chapel on the right , lies Michaelangelo's
Pietà (1498/9). Arnolfo da Cambio's bronze statue of St Peter (1296),
in the central aisle, has become famed for its foot worn to a nub by pilgrims'
kisses. Bernini's Throne of St Peter (1665), above the papal altar , made
with bronze purloined from the Pantheon on the Pope's orders, dominates
the far end of the nave.
Piazza San Pietro
Tel: (06) 6988 4466. Fax: (06) 6988 5100.
Website: www.christusrex.org
Transport: Metro Ottaviano; bus to Piazza del Risorgimento.
Opening hours: Daily 0700-1900 (Apr-Sep); daily 0700-1800 (Oct-Mar).
Admission: Free
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