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ST. PETER’S BASILICA, WATCH OUT FOR THE DETAILS IN THE DOME!

As you can imagine, the St. Peter’s Basilica took quite a long time to build! In fact, this monster project took around a century to be finished!

The construction of the current basilica overlooking St Peter’s Square began on 18 April 1506 with Pope Julius II and ended in 1626, during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII, while the arrangement of the square in front of it was completed only in 1667. On the same site, before the present basilica, there was another one dating from the 4th Century, built by the Roman emperor Constantine I. Obviously, during such a huge period, many architects succeeded in the works for the construction of the Basilica: Bramante with the collaboration of Giuliano da Sangallo, Raffaello, with the collaboration of Giuliano da Sangallo and Frà Giocondo, Antonio da Sangallo the Youth, with Baldassarre Peruzzi as a collaborator, Michelangelo, Pirro Ligorio and Jacopo Barozzi from Vignola, Giacomo Della Porta with Domenico Fontana, Carlo Maderno and finally Gian Lorenzo Bernini (since 1629).

One of St. Peter’s Basilica’s most famous features is its Dome. It is so big that you could fit the Statue of Liberty inside it alone. It actually hides a secret, such as all the Basilica: are the paintings really paintings? If a closer look is taken, it is possible to find out that they are actually mosaics! Some are made from glass, and others are ceramic. It’s a key reason why so many people use flash photography inside the Basilica – they won’t miss anything!

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