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

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

Section Three

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Conclusion

St. Peter's Today

Crowds come together to witness the papal mass held on Wednesdays at St. Peter's Piazza.

St. Peter's continues to this day to be the center of Catholicism. Bernini's contributions to St. Peter's exemplify more than any other complex works of art the spirit of the Catholic Restoration, and the Baroque era. In the fifty years between 1625 and 1675, St. Peter's was dramatically transformed - from the Ponte Sant'Angelo all the way to the Cathedra. Bernini's numerous works of pure genius comprise a dynamic work in its entirety, and each composition continues to evoke in the modern visitor the same multitude of feelings and images for which Bernini intended. In spite of his numerous commissions in and around the basilica, Bernini never lost sight of the whole picture, and it is this full scope that lends itself to the continuity of his work - across the individual works themselves, as well as spanning the scale of time. To this day, thanks to Bernini, St. Peter's remains a source of affirmation for the faithful, reassurance for once-faithful, and inspiration for rest - the precise effect that Bernini desired.

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