Saint Peter's Basilica

Saint Peter's Basilica

Present church of St. Peter's in Rome, begun by Pope Julius II in 1506 and completed in 1615. It is the church of the popes and one of the world's largest churches. It was built to replace Old St. Peter's, erected by Constantine over Peter's traditional burial place. According to the original plan of Donato Bramante, it was to take the form of a Greek cross around a central dome. Successive architects, including Raphael, drew fresh plans after Bramante's death, modifying the original Greek-cross plan to a Latin cross. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger returned to Bramante's symmetrical plan. Michelangelo, who followed Sangallo, nearly completed the drum for the massive dome before his death. Pope Paul V (r. 1605–21) then insisted on a longitudinal plan for liturgical reasons and adopted the plan of Carlo Maderno (1556–1629), which extended the nave to the east. Gian Lorenzo Bernini added the elliptical piazza, lined by colonnades, that serves as the approach to the basilica. The interior is filled with Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces, including Michelangelo's Pietà, Bernini's baldachin, a statue of St. Longinus, the tomb of Urban VIII, and a bronze throne of St. Peter.