In which country is St. Peter's Basilica located? Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. St. Peter's Cathedral is the creation of the greatest masters of the Renaissance.
Saint Paul's Cathedral - Catholic cathedral, which is the most large structure Vatican and until recently considered the largest Christian church in the world.
White tent shining in the blue sky of Rome - dome St. Peter's Basilica, the main temple of the Catholic world. A temple that is more than five centuries old...
Everything he built seemed like a new eternity. On the other hand, Bramante was a difficult Renaissance artist. Being a background for the art of another, and for the art of the younger generation, he was alien to his artistic prowess. He wanted to celebrate his skill.
Therefore, he proposed all sorts of measures that suggested one thing: how tempting it would be to demolish the Church of Constantine and make way for new monumental architecture. The Pope was not evasive, even if he had expressed the contrary and made a note that the sacred place should be placed above the profane.
St. Peter's Basilica is located west of the center of Rome, within the sovereign state of Vatican City. History tells that on the site of the present St. Peter's Cathedral there was a circus, in the arena of which Christians were martyred during the time of Nero. In 67, the Apostle Peter was brought here after the trial. Peter asked that his execution not be compared to Christ’s. Then he was crucified head down. In 326, in memory of this, Emperor Constantine ordered the construction of a basilica in the name of St. Peter. When it fell into disrepair, Pope Nicholas V began construction of the cathedral in 1452. After his death, work was suspended, and only in 1506 did Pope Julius II commission the architect Bramante to build the cathedral. Bramante conceived the church in the form of a Greek equilateral cross. Almost all the major architects of Italy took turns participating in the design and construction of St. Petra. After Bramante's death, the work was entrusted to Raphael, who redesigned the church in the form of a Latin cross. Then the construction of the cathedral was led by Michelangelo. Michelangelo made all the supporting structures more massive and highlighted the main space. He erected the drum of the central dome, but the dome itself was completed after his death. Architects Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana, based on Michelangelo's design, erected two domes: an internal, rounded one, and an external, elongated one. Carlo Maderno completed the longitudinal chapels and designed the façade of the cathedral. Of the four small domes envisaged by Michelangelo's design, the architect Vignola erected only two. To the greatest extent, the architectural forms exactly as they were conceived by Michelangelo have been preserved on the altar, western side. On November 18, 1626, on the 1300th anniversary of the first basilica and 120 years after construction began, Pope Urban VIII consecrated the new cathedral.
Bramante, who feared being excluded from competition, was always developing new plans, in the forest and on parchment. Not every design, and not every rework, was retained. It has been disputed for centuries whether Bramante originally had a central building, which had a very dated effect, and only later had a cross plan, or whether he immediately developed a mixed form.
Finally, the Pope and the Builder probably decided to build a three-story facility. This would become a sort of oversized sculpture of the building, basically an elevation of the church. The proportions were more than gigantic, they were breathtaking. From time to time, Bramante dreamed of 50-meter quarter-turners, that is, domes in high-rise buildings. The dome itself must be huge: 44 meters in diameter, like the Pantheon. But the old basilica will perish in such architecture.
But the story didn't end there. At the beginning of the 17th century. At the direction of Paul V, the architect Carlo Maderno lengthened the eastern branch of the cross - he added a three-nave basilica part to the centric building, thus returning to the shape of the Latin cross, and built a facade. As a result, the dome turned out to be a hidden façade, lost its dominant meaning and is only perceived from a distance, from Via della Concigliazione.
On the medal, some experts recognize the western side of the new church, the landscape of towers and domes; The inscription calls it "Peterstempel". In this part of the building the Pope wanted to place his Juluskapelle, including the tomb. However, the whole competition with antiques, the whole aesthetics of triumph, turned out to be dangerous. The plans for the new church, which were no longer valid at the start of construction, were seen by critics of the papal rule as definitive evidence of wasted waste. The indulgences imposed on the financing of the new building, these supposed actions on the heavenly earth, also angered Martin Luther.
A square was needed that could accommodate the large number of believers who flocked to the cathedral to receive papal blessings or take part in religious celebrations. This task was completed by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, who created in 1656-1667. The square in front of the cathedral is one of the most outstanding works of world urban planning practice. He also created a magnificent interior decoration and the famous canopy over the tomb of the apostle, whose name the cathedral bears. The colonnade framing the cathedral square is also his creation.
And how could one justify the architect's desire to demolish an old building, a direct connection with early Christianity? Contemporaries, like the writer Sigismundo dei Conti, justified the low artistic value of the old church. Bramante's supposed victory led to defeat.
It was Michelangelo who suffered the most from all these events. The Pope, firstly, in monetary form, and secondly, cursed Bramante, imposed a fee for work on the tomb. The artist received no more and did not pay any more. At first he financed the marble and employees. He then left Rome because he feared that the pope or his master builder would still want to kill him. The day before the foundation was laid, Michelangelo boarded the express post for Tuscany.
View from the cathedral to the square
A new altar was erected in the place of the previous one and a “window” was cut into the floor - a “confession box”, through which believers could see the tomb of St. Peter, hidden underground. Excavations carried out in the 1940s proved that the tomb of the apostle was located under the altar of the cathedral. This was evidenced by numerous facts, including inscriptions and images. Altar of the Cathedral of St. Petra faces west, not east, as in most Christian churches.
Later, on his return from Florence, he became a gloomy accompaniment to the building measures and called Bramante a "destroyer" who wanted to destroy old church. His supposed victory led to defeat. It is true that he actually destroyed parts of the old basilica and thus created historical facts. In addition, he also brought the colossal vaulted piles to almost supernumerary heights and thus marked the future domed area.
The project of the century seemed to be coming to an end. But dad's enthusiasm waned. Nothing went together anymore, not the shrunken choir, not the extra block, not the tired client, not the obsessed architect. Bramante was mocked by his contemporaries as a “liberate,” a man of the permanent tabula rasa.
In front of the entrance to the cathedral there are statues of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Peter holds in his hands the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, handed to him by the Lord. There are five doors leading into the cathedral. The last one on the right side is the Holy One, and it opens only in the Holy Year. In ancient times, the beginning of the jubilee year was marked by the sound of a goat's horn trumpet called “yobel”, hence the word “jubilee”. The holy door is walled up with concrete. Every 25 years, on Christmas Eve (December 25), the concrete is broken before the anniversary year. After three kneelings and three blows of the hammer, the Holy Door swings open and the pope, taking the cross in his hands, is the first to enter the cathedral. At the end of the Jubilee Year, the door is closed again and sealed for the next 25 years.
The architect ordered it, so it was insulted that before his resurrection he made a decision about where the gates of the new church were to be built. Moreover, he, the dead Bramante, will again restore the entire Kingdom of Heaven. Not for long, and the project of the century also seemed to be coming to an end. In fact, more than a hundred years must pass to completion.
Years have passed, the miracle remains. The construction site took a long time to appear. There were only finished pieces from the new church, on the old missing parts of the roof. Dirt and dampness penetrated, old buildings and new buildings led to nesting, tragic and curious at the same time, as recorded by old prints and drawings. The place seemed to illustrate all the turmoil of Christianity. Solemn worship was hardly possible; often, the clergy and believers stood in the rain, the ceremony had to be interrupted.
The bronze doors of the central entrance were made by the Florentine master Filaret. At the top of the doors there are large figures of the Savior and the Mother of God sitting on the throne. In the center are the apostles Peter and St. Paul. The two lower hallmarks depict scenes of the trial of Nero and the subsequent execution of the apostles: the beheading of St. Paul and the crucifixion of St. Peter. Above the doors is a marble bas-relief by Bernini “Jesus Entrusting Peter with the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
It followed decades in which much was wanted and little was built. Raphael, an artist, became the leading architect. Peter is “the first temple of the world,” and he promised himself great honor from this task. He was followed by Bramante's former student Antonio da Sangallo the Younger.
Sangallo was dying, but not a great one. Everything was revalued, recalculated, redrawn. His church was supposed to be 425 meters long, although the area did not allow it at all. Therefore, he would have to drill his building deep into the Vatican Mountain. Again such gigantalia - but this contradicts the small, monotonous decoration of the facades.
The dome, an architectural masterpiece, has a height of 119 m inside and a diameter of 42 m. It is supported by four powerful pillars. In a niche of one of them there is a five-meter statue of St. Longina by Bernini. Bernini's role in the creation of the sculptural decoration of the cathedral is very great; he worked here intermittently for almost fifty years, from 1620 to 1670. In the dome space above the main altar there is Bernini's masterpiece - a huge, 29 m high canopy on four twisted columns, on which there are statues of angels.
It was built in such a way that two unequal neighbors of the church could be combined into a common preliminary one. But then the project stopped again. Again the building was destroyed piece by piece. He received unusually far-reaching powers and an excessively high salary. And yet the situation has worsened.
The artist, now 71 years old, has not mellowed over the years. He called his predecessor and his colleague "sheep and oxen" who knew nothing about art. If Sangallo's plans were to go further, there would be enough dark corners in the church building that the mint's coin could print its own money, and there could be completely different sins.
Among the laurel branches on the upper parts of the columns are visible the heraldic bees of the Barberini family. The bronze for the ciborium was taken from the Pantheon, having dismantled, by order of Pope Urban VIII (Barberini), the structures that supported the roof of the portico. Through the canopy one can see the Cathedral of St., located in the central apse and also created by Bernini. Petra. It includes the chair of St., supported by four statues of the church fathers. Peter, above which the symbol of the Holy Spirit hovers in radiance. To the right of the pulpit is the tombstone of Pope Urban VIII by Bernini, to the left is the tombstone of Paul III by Guglielmo della Porta, one of Michelangelo’s students.
Again, what had been produced so far had been at least partially destroyed, it had been planned, it had been built - and hope of completing the church again in the foreseeable future had waned. Michelangelo, who had once called the destroyer Bramante, now smashed much of the stonework, especially the building sections of Raffaele and Sangallos. He took Bramante's pillar. He was undoubtedly the greatest genius among all the architects of this construction site. Still, he wanted to build a slightly smaller, plausible version of St. Peter's.
Michelangelo advanced the construction as much as possible. He proposed a light central structure that would still be generous and sublime even on a smaller scale; With this option, hundreds of thousands of ducats and especially several decades of construction could be saved. At the same time, the plan was self-affirming, since the central building could always be extended to the basilica. The Pope convinced Michelangelo, but was not loyal to the late Sangallo. At the construction site, he had more enemies as followers.
Huge dome St. Peter's Basilica flies up like a light sheet lifted by the wind.
Along the frieze of the dome and further along the frieze of the entire church there is a mosaic inscription in Greek and Latin with the words of Christ: “You are Peter, and on this stone I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it; And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Michelangelo knew that the church would not end its life and that a possible successor might want to change everything. The dome remained unbuilt during his lifetime. At a height of 75 meters the building opened, the hole was 40 meters wide - and there they gaped there for 20 years.
Century, the church was even halfway. During the years of the Counter-Reformation, no one dared to let them disappear. But the two buildings did not harmonize with each other, they were mutually exclusive and ridiculous - two unequal and unhappy neighbors. During the mass, part of the wall from the window area of the basilica was dissolved, and it was decided to demolish it. Finally, there was a reason, although not a convincing one. For new buildings there were also frequent cracks and broken components. Triggers were mostly ground triggers.
The inner surface of the dome is decorated with images of the four Evangelists: Matthew - with the angel who led his hand while writing the Gospel, Mark - with the lion, Luke - with the ox, John - with the eagle. The lion, eagle and ox are called “apocalyptic beasts”, which John the Theologian writes about in the “Apocalypse” as animals that surrounded the throne of God.
Now, however, it has become serious: they have sacrificed an old, partially destroyed and rebuilt building. Peter disappeared from the old basilica. Only Michelangelo's building came to life, and, of course, there was nothing left. Carlo Maderno was the architect who most influenced Michelangelo. He added a longhouse and made a basilica out of the central building. At times there were 700 people working in the shift system; During the day, a tent sheltered them from the sun, and at night there was a construction site.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini then completed the project a second and final time. Painter, sculptor and master builder had a talent for creating dance spaces and swaying surfaces, he had the abilities of Bramante and Michelangelo to create architectural architecture, he also emphasized here.
The height of the facade is 45 m, the width is 115 m. The attic of the facade is crowned with huge, 5.65 m high, statues of Christ, John the Baptist and the eleven apostles (except for the Apostle Peter). From the portico, five portals lead to the cathedral.
Bernini designed the vestibule of St. Peter and surrounded it with a colonnade that was both revealing and revealing. In the church he erected a pompous canopy over the Petersgrab and Hochtaltar, 29 meters high. He had to work together with his competitor Francesco Borromini.
The Church, everything for her now actually worked as for giants. A room for 000 people that made the individual shrink to miniature. Goethe wrote that he learned from St. Peter how art can destroy nature and “all measures of comparison.” For the art writer Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the building was "the epitome of beauty", indeed "the most beautiful building in the world". Even until the eighties, the Gotteschaus was to remain the largest church in Christendom.
The doors of the central portal were made in the middle of the 15th century. and come from the old basilica. Opposite this portal, above the entrance to the portico, is a famous mosaic by Giotto from the late 13th century. "Navichella". The reliefs of the leftmost portal - the “Gate of Death” - were created in 1949-1964. by the great sculptor Giacomo Manzu. The image of Pope John XXIII is very expressive.
Undoubtedly, one who is in it and who knows the history of the building becomes difficultly tempted to believe in miracles as a non-Catholic. All visitors to Rome will also go to the Vatican. Exactly this small state in the world also has its charm for non-pilots. The monumental character of St. Peter's Square with the huge St. Peter's Basilica is worth a visit anyway.
In pictures, the square and the cat always look so controllable. Only after you have seen the factory on site can you understand that almost all visitors are still impressed in our time today. These are huge proportions, but also pleasing proportions. everything here is unique. Most visitors will also want to see the inside of the cathedral. To do this you have to submit a check and people wait in long lines. It's not just about whether dangerous items are involved, but also whether the dress code is appropriate. Unfortunately, short pants for men, mini pants for women, and bare shoulders must remain on the outside.
Inside, the cathedral amazes with its harmony of proportions, its enormous size, and the richness of its decoration - there are a lot of statues, altars, tombstones, and many wonderful works of art. The total length of the basilica is 211.6 m. On the floor of the central nave there are marks showing the dimensions of other largest cathedrals in the world, which allows them to be compared with the largest, the Cathedral of St. Petra.
In the center of the cathedral stands an altar with unquenchable lamps. The altar is called the papal altar because only the Pope can celebrate Mass in front of it. Nearby is a bronze figure of St. Peter sitting on the papal throne and holding in his hand the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. The apostle’s feet have already turned white and worn away from the touches of believers: according to legend, if you make a wish and, holding Peter’s foot with your hand, ask with faith for the fulfillment of your plans, then everything will certainly come true.
In the first chapel on the right there is Michelangelo's masterpiece - the marble Pieta. It was created by him at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries at the age of 25. After the attacker attempted to break the statue, it was protected with glass.
Nearby is the small Chapel of the Crucifixion, which houses a magnificent wooden crucifix from the late 13th to early 14th centuries, attributed to Pietro Cavallini. A little further is the tombstone of Margravine Matilda of Canossa by Bernini with his students; she was the first woman to receive the honor of being buried in this cathedral.
Grille of the Chapel of St. The communion is made according to a drawing by Borromini. Next to the chapel is the tombstone of Gregory XIII; The bas-relief recalls the reform carried out by the pope - the introduction of a new, Gregorian, calendar. A little further is the tombstone of Clement XIII, made in the neoclassical style by the sculptor Canova. Of great interest is the work created in the 1490s. The tombstone of Innocent VIII by the sculptor Antonio Pollaiolo is one of the few surviving monuments that were still in the old basilica. Not far from the entrance you see another creation by the sculptor Canova - the tombstone of the last representatives of the Scottish royal Stuart family.
Along the entire perimeter of the cathedral there is a string of chapels, where there are outstanding works of art, precious relics of Christianity, and numerous tombs of popes, kings and emperors. In the cathedral sacristy there is a marble plaque with the names of all the high priests buried in the cathedral, starting with the first - the Apostle Peter. The numerous tombstones of the popes installed in the cathedral are mostly works of art made by great masters - Giotto, Bernini, Michelangelo, Guglielmo della Porta, Thorvaldsen. The cathedral contains the Spear of the centurion Longinus - the same one with which the Savior was pierced on the cross. It came to Rome from Constantinople. One of the chapels contains part of the relics of the Archbishop of Constantinople, St. John Chrysostom.
Until 1990, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was the largest Christian temple in the world (in 1990 it was surpassed by the cathedral in Yamoussoukro, the capital of the African state of Cote'd Ivoire - former Ivory Coast). The size of the cathedral is amazing. It covers an area of 22067 square meters. The height of the cathedral is 133 meters, the length with the portico is 211.5 meters. By the way, the world's largest Christian church- the same Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Paix in Yamoussoukro - built on the model of St. Peter's Cathedral.
In 2007, the last work of Michelangelo Buonarotti, completed shortly before his death, was found in the Vatican archives. This is a red chalk sketch of a detail of one of the radial columns that make up the drum of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
St. Peter's Basilica became a symbol of power catholic church. But it also became a model whose features are recognizable in all major temple buildings of all Christian countries in subsequent centuries.
A couple more night views of St. Peter's Basilica
Friends, today we will visit you in the very heart of the Vatican - St. Peter's Basilica. It's funny, but the second largest Christian temple in the whole world is located in the smallest state on our planet.
To say that St. Peter's Cathedral dates back to ancient times is an understatement. The first basilica on the site where the temple is located dates back to 324. It was erected over tomb of the Apostle Peter. By the 15th century the building became very dilapidated, and Pope Nicholas V ordered the construction of a cathedral on the site of the old basilica. Soon, however, dad died, and construction was abandoned for a long time. Only in 1506, by order of Pope Julius II, the construction of a grandiose cathedral began, which was supposed to glorify the Catholic Church with its power and grandeur.
The design of St. Peter's Cathedral was developed by the architect D. Bramante. After his death, the construction was supervised by such masters as Raphael, Peruzzi, Sangallo, Michelangelo and others. Each contributed their own ideas and ideas to the initial project.
All R. XVII century In front of the cathedral, one of the most beautiful squares in architecture was created, which is framed along the perimeter by a majestic colonnade - the work of the great Bernini. Above the columns rise 140 huge statues of Christian saints. The square was built in the shape of an ellipse with a maximum diameter of 240 m. In the center of the square there is an obelisk of the 13th century BC, which was brought to Rome by Emperor Caligula!
Facade of St. Peter's Basilica produces unforgettable impression. Its height is 45 m and its width is 115 m. At its top there are more than five meters high statues of Christ and the apostles. Now it is the second largest Christian temple in the whole world!
There are five gates leading inside the cathedral. Some of them are called “saints” and are opened only once every 25 years on the eve of the Nativity of Christ. The rest of the time they are walled up with concrete from the inside.
No less majestic and grandiose than the appearance of the temple. In terms of its size and decoration, there is simply nothing to compare it with. The internal length of the room is 186.36 m, the vault is 44 m high, and the area is more than 20 thousand square meters!
The dome by Michelangelo has a height of 119 and a diameter of 42 m. It is decorated with images of the four apostles: Mark with a lion, Matthew with an angel, John with an eagle and Luke with an ox. Starting from the dome, throughout the entire structure there is an inscription from the Bible in Latin, the translation of which means: “You are Peter, and on this stone I will build My Church, and I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The main altar of the cathedral is located directly under the dome. It was erected just above the place where the tomb of St. Peter is located. In front of the altar, 95 lamps burn day and night. Above the altar is a majestic canopy by Bernini. It is 29 m high and rests on four twisted columns on which stand statues of angels. It is noteworthy that altar of St. Peter's Basilica It faces not to the east, as is customary in Christian churches, but to the west.
Inside the cathedral there are many chapels, where there are statues and sculptures, tombstones and tombs of Roman popes and emperors. Wealth interior decoration It simply amazes with its magnificence! There are also relics significant for Christianity, such as the spear of Longinus (spear of fate), which pierced Christ on the cross.
Until 1990, St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican was the largest Christian church on Earth. Nowadays it ranks second after the Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Paix, located in the city of Yamoussoukro.
Have a nice trip!