View Article: St. Peter's Basilica

	St. Peter's Basilica
	written by Angela Hitt / 07.12.2004

page 1

1 of 1

Location

St. Peter's Basilica

Connection to Research

While my previous research prepared me well with knowledge of the history of St. Peter's, nothing short of being there could prepare me for it's scale. While the exterior was as large and imposing as suggested by the picture taken a mile away that I included in my intial research, the scale of the interior is what really amazed me. It was more ornately decorated than any of the other churches we’ve visited but the sheer size of the building made appear more grand than gaudy.

Element of Interest

While I was expecting to be more impressed with the doors to the basilica, Bernini's Baldachino and his "Chair of St. Peter" over the front-most altar were considerably more impressive. The baldachino, constructed of bronze removed from the ceiling of the Pantheon, stands above the high altar marking the tomb of St. Peter. The Chair of St. Peter, also by Bernini, lies further behind the high altar and further highlights the back altar where regular sunday mass is held. It was the scale and opulence of these to pieces of artwork that most captured my attention.

Questions

How were the building materials transported?

I still have not found any information about how the basilica was constructed or how the materials were transported to the site. I do know that it more than a hundred years to build it, so I'm assuming it was probably just a lot of horsepower and manpower.

Image Analysis

Bernini's Baldachino

View from near the entrance

St Peter's Basilica

View from about the middle of the Piazza San Pietro

The first image, Bernini's Baldachino, provides perspective of the scale of the building and the ornate nature of the decoration. Its really hard to grasp the scale without actually being in the basilica, although taking more of the ceiling into the frame of the picture would probably give even better perspective. The lack of tourists also makes the scale seem smaller because it is hard to relate the scale to the height of an average person. This particular picture also makes the basilica look darker. In real life (maybe it was the time of day we visited) it was brighter and more golden toned.

The next photograph provides perspective on the scale of the building on the outside. It only shows some of the columns and doesn’t do justice to the circular design.

[ Multi-Page View ] [ Back to top ]