The Baldacchino
St. Peter's Basilica
Vatican City
Rome Italy
2016

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Cathedra Petri (1656-66) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The apse is dominated by Bernini's Cathedra Petri (Chair of St Peter), a gloriously ornate reliquary, which holds a wooden throne once believed to be the one on which St Peter himself sat as bishop of Rome. This was still the prevailing belief in the middle of the 17th century when Pope Alexander VII (r. 1655-67) commissioned Bernini to create the reliquary.

Although it is now known that the chair only dates back to the 9th century, the Feast of the Cathedra Petri is still celebrated each year on February 22nd to commemorate St Peter's teaching in Rome.

The four gigantic bronze statues depict doctors of the Latin and Greek Churches. The two outer (and slightly larger) figures are St Ambrose and St Augustine, while the two inner figures are St Athanasius and St John Chrysostom.

The Latin inscription on the frieze, ‘O PASTOR ECCLESIAE TV OMNES CHRISTI PASCIS AGNOS ET OVES’ (‘O shepherd of the Church, thou feedest all the lambs and sheep of Christ’), is an adaptation from the Gospel of St John (21:15-17). The Greek inscription has the same meaning.


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The Baldacchino (1624-33) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The focal point of the basilica is the Papal Altar, where only the pope may celebrate mass. It marks the spot (10 or so metres below) of what is believed to be the burial place of St Peter.

The tent-like canopy above the altar is known as a baldachin (baldacchino in Italian) and was Bernini's first commission in the basilica. Towering to a height of 29 m, it is made up of four massive bronze columns, each of which rests on a giant marble pedestal. In the centre of the tester (roof of the canopy) is an image of the Dove of the Holy Spirit. The baldachin is surmounted, at the corners, by four angels holding garlands of laurel. In between the angels are pairs of putti, two sporting the keys and tiara of St Peter, two sporting the sword and book of St Paul.

The baldachin was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623-44), a member of the Barberini family, and the bees of the family's crest can be seen swarming all over the monument.


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St. Peter’s Basilica is the largest church in the world. It stands above the spot where St Peter is thought to have been buried. The basilica is the second church to have been erected here; the first was built by Emperor Constantine the Great (r. 306-337) between 324 and 329.