St Peter’s Basilica

Renaissance masterpiece at the spiritual heart of Catholicism

Italy spoils you for choice when it comes to churches. Rome proudly offers you St. Peter’s – the church where the Pope himself presides. St. Peter was one of Jesus’ 12 Apostles and his first bishop. He was martyred in Rome by Emperor Nero, crucified upside down at his own request.

Emperor Constantine, some 300 years later, said goodbye to Jupiter and Juno and welcomed in Jesus. He made Christianity Rome’s official religion and ordered the first basilica built over Peter’s tomb in 326 CE.

The great church you see before you today was started in 1506. Its decaying predecessor was pulled down the year before. The columns and pediment of its façade are classically inspired – structural, ordered, even and symmetrical. This is the stable foundation of the Catholic Church. It bears a heavy load.

Take a deep breath before you cross the threshold. What’s inside will surely take your breath away. Even if you’re not religious, this will feel like a holy experience. Italian greats like Michelangelo and Bernini worked within to make everything glitter. To make you feel tiny but lifted among the clouds.

The Pope himself leads important masses and celebrations here. Bernini’s barley sugar columns, his thrown, and his altar leave him resplendent.