View Page: Bernini's work at St. Peter's

	Bernini's work at St. Peter's
	written by juliatm / 09.28.2004

Section One

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Historical Background

Ponte S. Angelo

View of Ponte S. Angelo from the east, with St. Peter's visible a half mile to the west.

In 1624, at the age of twenty-six, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) entered the Fabricca, the construction project of St. Peter's. Maffeo Barberini had just been elected pope, and became Urban VIII. After five years of working on designing a new canopy for the Vatican Confessio, Bernini was appointed the official “Architect of St. Peter’s” and continued to execute papal commissions in and around the church for over fifty years. St. Peter’s can therefore be viewed not only as a testament to the authority and power of the Catholic Church, but a monument to Bernini himself.

Before delving into Bernini’s contributions to St. Peter’s – the basilica and piazza, it is insightful to note the way in which Bernini intended the pilgrim to approach St. Peter’s Basilica. In Bernini’s time, the only bridge that spanned the Tiber between the old city of Rome and the Vatican vicinity was Ponte Sant’Angelo. Pope Clement IX ordered the modernization of this 1,500-year-old bridge in 1667, and not only did Bernini add rows (on either side) of angels carrying objects of Christ’s Passion, but he lowered the high balustrades so St. Peter’s could be viewed a half-mile from the west. It was Bernini’s intention that the pilgrim receive a golden vision of what lay before him before crossing the bridge, turning left, and plunging into the dark tunnel-like Medieval Borgo streets that led up to Bernini’s magnificent piazza of St. Peter’s. It was in these dim, restricted streets that Bernini expected the pilgrim to reflect upon life and death, humbling himself before entering the “symbolic heaven” represented by Bernini’s ninety-six saints and martyrs that each sit upon individual 39-foot travestine columns.

Today it is impossible to enter St. Peter’s from the way in which Bernini had in mind. The aforementioned narrow streets were bulldozed between 1936 and 1950, replaced by Via della Conciliazione, a wide and expansive street better suited to modern traffic and lined with 20th century obelisks that would have shamed Bernini. Also, the Ponte Sant’Angelo is inaccessible to buses, the transportation by which the modern-day pilgrim visits the basilica – as opposed to by foot or even on one’s knees. Nonetheless, St. Peter’s Basilica is an incredible testament to the Catholic faith, and Bernini’s work at St. Peter’s exemplifies - as well as defines - his sheer artistic genius.

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