St Peter's Cathedral

The dome of St Peter's, Rome. In 1546 Pope Paul III commissioned Michelangelo to design and complete the dome. However, only the drum for the dome was completed by the time of Michelangelo's death in 1564, and the dome itself was only finally finished under Pope Sixtus V (1585-90).

St Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican City, Rome, Italy. This is the cathedral church of the Vatican City State. Above the baroque façade of the building are statues representing Jesus, St John the Baptist, and the Apostles (excluding St Peter, who is represented by a bronze statue in the nave, inside the building).

The Piazza San Pietro (St Peter's Square), in the Vatican City State. The square is enclosed by Gianlorenzo Bernini's 17th-century elliptical colonnade. St Peter's Basilica, the cathedral itself, is the main Roman Catholic church in this clerical state, and took more than a century to build.

St Peter's Square, Vatican City, Rome. View from the dome of the basilica. The square was designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini in 1656. A section of the elliptical colonnade that surrounds the square can be seen on the right, with some of the 162 statues of saints that surmount it.

St Peter's Cathedral, Rome. It stands on the site of an earlier Christian church which was built above the tomb of the apostle Peter. The basilica is topped by the magnificent dome designed by Michelangelo, and the large elliptical space in front is enclosed by a fine colonnade.

A papal mass held at the Vatican, Rome. The mass is given by the Pope before a large congregation in the sumptuous interior of St Peter's Cathedral.

Roman Catholic cathedral church of the Vatican City State, Rome, built 1506-1626. It is the creation of the vision of Pope Julius II and the greatest architects of the Italian Renaissance, including Donato Bramante and Michelangelo. The cathedral has an internal length of 180 m/600 ft and a width at the transepts of 135 m/450 ft. The dome has an internal diameter of 42 m/137 ft and rises externally 138 m/452 ft to the crowning cross of the lantern.

In 1506 Pope Julius II commissioned Bramante, who planned a church in the form of a Greek cross with a central dome. On the death of Bramante, Raphael was placed in charge of the work by Pope Leo X. Raphael produced a design in the form of a Latin cross, but when he died, Peruzzi, who succeeded him, returned to the idea of a Greek cross. In 1536 Antonio da Sangallo, the younger, produced a new plan for the completion of the structure, but this plan was later abandoned when Michelangelo became the responsible architect. Michelangelo reverted to the basic design of Bramante, and his work was continued after his death by Vignola, Pirro Ligorio, and Giacomo della Porta. Pope Paul V, however, again reverted to a Latin cross, and the nave was accordingly extended by Carlo Maderno (1556-1629, who also built the facade 1606-12.

The site of St Peter's St Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) in front of the basilica is enclosed by Bernini's magnificent elliptical colonnade (1655-67), formed of 88 piers and 284 pillars, and surmounted by the statues of 162 saints. The basilica itself stands on a historic site once occupied by a chapel built over the tomb of St Peter by Pope Anacletus at the beginning of the 2nd century. In the place of this chapel Constantine the Great erected a basilica in 330, and it was here that Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the West on Christmas Eve, 800. Pope Nicholas V decided in 1452 to reconstruct the basilica, and work began in 1506 through the commission of Pope Julius II.

The facade and portico The basilica was consecrated by Pope Urban VIII in 1626. The baroque facade of St Peter's, the entablature of which is supported by eight columns and four piers, is crowned with a balustrade upon which are statues representing Christ, St John the Baptist, and the Apostles, excluding St Peter. The portico contains the mosaic La Navicella by Giotto, and from the portico five doors lead into the interior of the church: the central, bronze, door is the masterpiece of Filarete, and the door on the extreme right is the Porta Santa, which is opened only in a year of jubilee.

Interior features The nave of the basilica, with its four immense arches on each side, was decorated largely by Bernini, and it contains the famous bronze statue of St Peter (attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio, 13th century), one foot of which has been partly worn away by the kisses of countless pilgrims. Above the High Altar is the great dome, supported on four massive piers. The dome has two galleries. The High Altar, at which only the Pope celebrates Mass, is canopied by Bernini's ornate baldachin (a canopy over an altar, throne, or tomb).

At the far end of the apse is the Tribuna, a bronze throne enclosing a wooden chair, now decorated with ivory, which is said to have been that of St Peter. The throne is flanked by four huge statues, representing the saints Augustine, Ambrose, Athanasius, and John Chrysostom. The chapel of the Confessio contains the statue of Pope Pius VI by Antonio Canova, and among the many treasures in the several chapels opening off the transepts and aisles of the basilica are the beautiful Pieta by Michelangelo, and Canova's monument to the Stuarts. In the baptistery is a porphyry sarcophagus (now used as a baptismal font) which is said to have come from the mausoleum of Hadrian.

Although St Peter's is the scene of important public papal functions, it is not the papal cathedral, and in this sense it ranks second to the Lateran Church of St John.