ST. PETER’S SQUARE

Description

Essentials about St. Peter’s Square in brief

Anyone visiting St. Peter’s Basilica inevitably crosses one of the largest and most impressive squares in the world – St. Peter’s Square, located directly in front of the basilica. Designed in the 17th century by the star architect of the time, Bernini, the square is one of the architectural highlights of Rome. The ensemble of world-famous semicircular porticoes, obelisks and fountains against the backdrop of the most important and famous church in the world make St. Peter’s Square absolutely unique in the world.

The history of St. Peter’s Square

Shortly after Alexander VII was elected as the new pope in April 1655, he commissioned the architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini to design a new square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. Construction of the square began in 1656 and was completed eleven years later. The square consists of two parts, although actually only the second – seen from St. Peter’s Basilica – is considered St. Peter’s Square in the strict sense. The part of the square directly in front of the Cathedral (Piazza Retta) was laid out in a trapezoidal shape, following the model of Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio, in order to visually distance the façade of the basilica, and was built sloping down to allow everyone to see the forecourt.

The architecture of St. Peter’s Square

The Colonnades

The ellipse-shaped actual St. Peter’s Square, 240 meters wide and 196 meters long, is framed on each side by semicircular porticoes, which, according to Bernini, are meant to symbolize the outstretched arms of the church embracing the world. The porticoes were built in 1660 and consist of four rows of columns with a total of 284 columns and 88 pilasters. The columns, each one by itself, are 20 meters high and 1.60 meters wide. 140 statues, each 3.2 meters high, made by Bernini himself and his students, were placed on the roof of the portico. They depict popes, martyrs, evangelists and other religious figures.

To the left and right of the obelisk placed in the center of the square, there are round marble slabs in the floor that mark the focal points of the elliptical square. Standing on one of these slabs and looking at the nearest column, it appears to the human eye that there is only one row of columns instead of four.

The Egyptian Obelisk

In the center of the square stands a 25.5 meter high Egyptian obelisk (including the pedestal 41 meters). The obelisk once came from Heliopolis in Egypt and was cut out of the rock for Cornelius Gallus, the prefect of the city. In 37 AD, Emperor Caligula had the obelisk transported to Rome on a specially built ship and placed in the center of Caligula’s Circus.

In 1585, Pope Sixtus V decided to place the obelisk in St. Peter’s Square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, which was under construction. The implementation was a mammoth project and even Michelangelo considered it impossible. Sixtus persevered and employed Domenico Fontana to transport the obelisk. According to tradition, it took 900 men and over 100 horses to complete the transport after five months.

The Fountains

In 1613 a fountain designed by Carlo Maderno was installed in the square, to the right of the centrally placed obelisk. To preserve the symmetry of the square, Bernini decided to build an identical copy of the fountain on the other side of the obelisk. In 1677 the fountain was built under the direction of Carlo Fontana.

The Pope’s Elections and the Pope’s General Audience

On special occasions, such as the election of a new pope or at Easter, up to 400,000 people gather in the monumental St. Peter’s Square. Every Wednesday morning, the pope holds a general audience in the square. During the winter months and in bad weather, this takes place in the Vatican Audience Hall. There are a total of four large video screens in St. Peter’s Square where people can watch events during general audiences and other events.

On May 13, 1981, during a general audience, Turkish right-wing extremist Mehmet Ali Ağca shot Pope John Paul II, critically injuring him. Today, there is a white marble memorial stone in this place. On it is the Pope’s coat of arms with the date of the assassination in Roman numerals.