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091504 A Day at the Vatican |
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by asc1 / 09.17.2004 |
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Itinerary |
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| Photo by Andrea Christopher |
| St. Peter's Basilica |
| Most of our day was spent learning about the history of St. Peter's Basilica and observing its beautiful artwork. |
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While most of the group of students took advantage of the late start by sleeping in or getting a head start on studying, a small group of students decided to head over to the Vatican early in the morning to hear the Wednesday papal address. After grabbing a capuccino and a cornetto, we headed to St. Peter's Square to get some good seats for the papal address.
Entering into St. Peter's Square was exciting because there were pilgrims from many different countries present. The liveliest pilgrims were from Mexico and they began chanting and singing Mexican songs prior to the beginning of the ceremony. Anticipation built as uniformed musicians playing horns began parading through the piazza and made their way up to the front. Finally, at 10:30 am, the Pope made his way into the piazza and up the stairs to the main stage on a jeep, aka the "pope-mobile."
The Pope began his address by discussing, in Italian, a passage from the Book of Revelations. Afterwards, six different priests addressed the Pope in six different languages. To this, the Pope responded by giving a blessing in each language. Approximately one hour after the papal address had begun, it ended.
After a mad dash as pilgrims cleared out of St. Peter’ Square in the pouring rain, we met up with the rest of the group to begin our tour of St. Peter’s Basilica. Unfortunately, our scheduled tour of the scavi was postponed until Friday. However, we were able to see the rest of the church.
Amanda was the first to speak, giving a brief presentation about the history of the church. Then we proceeded into St. Peter’s where Julia began her presentation about the contributions of Bernini to the building. Some of the most interesting works of Bernini that we observed was the statue of Constantine, the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, and, most impressively, the baldachin. The baldachin was quite a sight because of its grand size and the fact that Bernini was able to use bronze to form the most exquisite and ornate detailing.
While we were still in St. Peter’s, Helen W. presented on Michaelangelo’s contributions to St. Peter’s, namely the Pieta and the dome over the baldachin. The Pieta was one of the most amazing sights because the depiction of Mary was so beautiful and serene. Helen shared with us a couple of interesting stories about the statue. The first story was about how Michaelangelo carved his name on the statue to avoid any confusion about which artist had the skill to produce such an impressive piece. In the second story, we learned about how a man attacked the statue and completely destroyed Mary’s face. The man was declared insane and sent back to his home in Australia, and the statue was restored using synthetic marble. That is the reason why the statue is now housed behind thick glass.
That evening, the only other event on our schedule was to attend sociology class. Every student presented some information about the topic they were researching for their ethnographic project. This was very fascinating because there was such a wide variety of subjects covered, so we had the opportunity to learn about many issues in modern Italian society.
To finish off a very eventful day, we enjoyed a gelato at Alberto Pica’s.
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Highlights |
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| Photo by Andrea Christopher |
| The Papal Address |
| One of the highlights of the day was to hear the Pope give his weekly papal address. Here, the Pope is seated and dressed in white robes. |
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For me, the major highlight of the day was to hear the Pope speak. I was so pleased to be in the presence of so many people from very different backgrounds, and everyone was genuinely excited to be a part of the ceremony. I also felt very honored to have the opportunity to attend a papal address.
Another major event was the opportunity to see the largest church in the world, St. Peter’s Basilica. It was such a privilege to enter into one of the world’s holiest places and to be able to see the incredible works of art of such talented artists.
It is days like this that make me fall in love with Rome even more.
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Images |
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| Photo by Andrea Christopher |
| Gathered at the Vatican |
| Lauren, Andrea, John, and Calli (from left) gather in front of St. Peter's prior to the papal address. |
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| Photo by Andrea Christopher |
| Pieta |
| The Pieta, one of Michaelangelo's most famous works, is housed at St. Peter's. |
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| Photo by Andrea Christopher |
| Bernini's Spot |
| One of the facts we learned from Julia's presentation was that Bernini designed the colonnade that surrounds the entrance to St. Peter's Square. The colonnade forms an oval, and there is one particular spot in the square that Bernini had marked where one can stand and the three rows of columns in the colonnade appear as though there is just one row of columns. This photo was taken at Bernini's spot. |
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