St. Peter's Square
Vatican City
Rome Italy
2016

Saint Peter's Square is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave in Rome, directly west of the neighborhood of Borgo. Both the square and the basilica are named after Saint Peter, an apostle of Jesus whom Catholics consider to be the first Pope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Square

Vatican City’s gigantic square, the St. Peter’s Square was built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini between 1656 and 1667 and is located on the St. Peter’s Basilica. This is the square where the giant St. Peter and Egyptian Obelisk can be found.

The St. Peter’s Square and St. Peter’s Basilica was a portion of the former Circus of Nero stadium. The former stadium stands about 560 meters and has a width of 80 meters.

One of the magnificent features that produced the equilibrium of the St. Peter’s Square is the obelisk and twin fountains. In 1586, Pope Sixtus V gave order to move the Egyptian Obelisk to the right side of the St. Peter’s Square, above the pontifical colonnade called Apostolic Palace. On both sides of the marble stone obelisk are the two identical fountains. The first one was designed by Maderno in 1612 and the twin fountain was installed by Bernini in 1675. The twin fountain is spraying water from Lake Bracciano and it reaches a height of about 14 meters into the air. This is the exact place of the St. Peter’s square where you can witness the Pope in Rome gives his annual Easter blessing, pronounces canonization and prays Angelus at 12 pm on Sundays from the window of his office with all attendees on the ground.

Additionally, St. Peter’s Square is encircled on both sides by 284 Doric columns and 88 pilasters, the semi-circular colonnades, which embody the overextended arms of the mother church embracing the world, according to Bernini.


Gian Lorenzo Bernini, (Naples 1598 - Rome 1680)
Models for St Peter's Chair
Clay and straw on a framework of iron and cane


Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Models for St Peter's Chair
Room 17 of the Pinacoteca contains the preparatory models made of clay mixed with straw on a framework of iron and cane for the bronze figures of St Peter's Chair. They are works of great documentary and artistic interest both because of the high quality of the models that testifies as to the intervention of Bernini, and because of the fact that the forms for fusion were drawn from them. The models for the Chair include the heads of St Athanasius and St John Chrysostom as well as the figures of angels. The mighty monument in marble, stucco and gilded bronze that decorates the area of the apse of St Peter's Basilica was constructed by Bernini and his assistants in the years 1658-1666 during the pontificate of Alexander VII (pontiff from 1655 to 1667). Its creation was a result of the decision to transfer the much venerated relic of the wooden chair on which, according to medieval tradition, St Peter used to sit to instruct the Christians (actually it is the throne that the emperor Charles the Bald gave to Pope John VII in 875) from the Baptismal Chapel to the apse of the Basilica. The great bronze throne, in which the wooden chair is preserved, is silhouetted against the clouds, surrounded by angels and by four large figures of the Doctors of the Church (St Ambrose, St Augustine, St Athanasius and St John Chrystostom).