Travelsmartplanet

St. Peter’s Basilica has the tallest dome in the world. Michelangelo had a large part in its design. The lantern is 17 metres high. It was used as a model for other domes in the western world such as Saint Paul’s in London (1675), Les Invalides in Paris (1680-1691) and the Capitol building in Washington, DC (1794-1817).

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As you enter St. Peter’s Basilica, in one of the first niches as go to the right, you can see Michelangelo’s famous sculpture of the Pieta, Madonna and child.

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St. Peter’s Basilica is the largest church in the world with the tallest dome in the world. This Renaissance architecture was designed over the centuries by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

On 1 January 1547, Michelangelo, then in his seventies, was Pope Paul III’s 3rd choice to be the superintendent of the building program. So way beyond the Sistine Chapel, he was the principal designer of most of the building as you see it today.

 Michelangelo, who did not want this job, wrote “I undertake this only for the love of God and in honour of the Apostle.” In order to take the assignment, he insisted he be given a free hand to achieve his ultimate design by whatever means he saw fit.

The Basilica is supposedly the burial site of Saint Peter, first Bishop of Rome whose tomb is supposedly directly below high altar.

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Have fun looking for the trompe l’oeil Gian Lorenzo Bernini planned in the center of St Peter’s Square. There are 2 semi-circles surrounded by 4 rows of columns. You can see the rows from any place in the piazza except from 2 spots (look for the metal plates in the ground) where the illusion allows you to see only 1 row of columns and not the four.

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Entrance to the Vatican Museums. Michelangelo’s ceilings in the Sistine Chapel is right near here.

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Who would think on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in September, that we could have the whole Vatican plaza and the view of St. Peter’s Cathedral all to ourselves?

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