ST. PETER’S BASILICA AND SQUARE
By Callie
FUN AND INTERESTING VIDEO
http://on.aol.com/video/the-history-of-saint-peters-basilica-517694870
PICTURES
ART WITHIN
The High Altar
By Bernini
The Basilica centers around the Papal Altar
where only the Pope celebrates Mass. It was
consecrated by Clement VIII, June 5, 1594, on
top of several other older altars.
Rising above the altar is the baldacchino
(95ft. canopy), Bernini's masterpiece and first
work in St. Peter's. The ancient tomb of St.
Peter lies directly below the altar.
NAVICELLA
The mosaic above the central external door
By Giotto
A large and famous mosaic that occupied a large part of
the wall above the entrance arcade, facing the main
facade of the basilica across the courtyard, attributed to
Giotto di Bondone around 1305–1313.
It depicted the version from the Gospel of Matthew of
Christ walking on the water, the only one of the three
gospel accounts where Saint Peter is summoned to join him.
It was almost entirely destroyed during the construction of
the new Saint Peter's Basilica in the 17th century, but
fragments were preserved from the sides of the
composition, and what is effectively a new work,
incorporating some original fragments, was restored to a
position at the centre of the portico of the new building in
1675.
PIETA
By Michaelangelo
The scene of the Pieta shows the Virgin Mary holding
the dead body of Christ after his crucifixion, death,
and removal from the cross, but before he was placed
in the tomb. This is one of the key events from the life
of the Virgin, known as the Seven Sorrows of Mary,
which were the subject of Catholic devotional prayers.
This was the only work of Michelangelo to which he
signed his name.
The Pieta became famous right after it was carved.
Other artists started looking at it because of its
greatness, and Michelangelo’s fame would have
spread. Since the artist lived another six decades
after carving the Pieta, he would have witnessed the
reception of the work by generations of artists and
patrons through much of the sixteenth century.
TRUTH UNVEILED BY TIME
By Bernini
a marble sculpture by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Executed between 1646 and 1652, Bernini intended to
show Truth allegorically as a naked young woman being
unveiled by a figure of Time above her, but the figure of
Time was never executed. Bernini still expressed a wish to
add the figure as late as 1665.
Creating this sculpture for himself rather than for sale, as
well as to disprove his detractors, it is a more personal
work than many of his others.
He began the preparatory works for the sculpture in 1645,
during the critical period after the death of his main patron
pope Urban VIII, and it was almost complete by 1652.
The figure of Truth was completed that year and in his will
he left it in perpetuity to the first-born of the Bernini family.
THE SISTINE CHAPEL
The Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Sixtus
IV, from whom it derives its name, in 1475.
It was designed to be - and still is - the pope's
chapel and the site of papal elections. The Sistine
Chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the
Assumption of the Virgin on August 15, 1483.
Florentine painters Sandro Botticelli, Domenico
Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli and the Perugian
Pietro Perugino decorated the walls with frescoes.
The fresco project took only 11 months, from July
1481 to May 1482.
But in 1508 Pope Julius II della Rovere commissioned
Michelangelo to repaint the ceiling.
VATICAN CITY AT A GLANCE…
landlocked sovereign city-state whose
territory consists of a walled enclave
within the city of Rome.
The official residence of the pope of the
Roman Catholic church is Vatican City, or
Città del Vaticano in Italian.
It has an area of approximately 44
hectares (110 acres)
The Pope's Swiss Guards normally wear
blue doublets and blue berets while on
duty in Vatican City, but on ceremonial
occasions they put on traditional
Renaissance-era uniforms.
A population of around 840.
The smallest internationally recognized
independent state in the world by both
area and population.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBxy
HqxS68c
SOME REALLY COOL SWISS GUYS