By Roman church standards, St. Peter's Basilica is a relatively new structure barely five hundred years old, a young home for a religion founded two millennia ago. But it is not the first church to occupy this site. The original basilica was built around the year 315 by Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor. Constantine converted to Christianity after having a vision while riding into battle. Constantine saw a cross in the sky with the words "in hoc signo vinces": "in this sign you will win". Constantine triumphed and converted and as a token of gratitude, he ordered the construction of a basilica over the tomb of Saint Peter. On the Vatican hill, the Roman emperor Nero had built a circus. A Roman circus was a long arena used primarily for chariot races, but also for other important events, such as gladiatorial combat. Countless Christians were killed in this place, and their bodies were buried in a necropolis that was located to the north of the circus. It was there, according to legends, that the body of Saint Peter was brought after his crucifixion near the current Church of San Pietro in Montorio. The old Saint Peter's Basilica presented a typical early Christian structure, whose plan and section resembled those of Roman basilicas with central and lateral aisles, and was approximately half the size of the current church. It used to have a patio with a fountain in the center and a portico called the narthex, intended for the unbaptized , who were not allowed access to the church, and the basilica had a plan in the shape of a Latin cross. The tomb of Saint Peter was placed in the center of the transept, below the altar. In 1505, Julius II, a Pope who wished to leave a great legacy, made a bold and controversial decision : to completely demolish the old St. Peter's Basilica and build a new one in its place. The basilica was already over a thousand years old and had been looted numerous times, leaving it in a state close to collapse. In addition, Pope Julius II had a vision of a great basilica that could house the huge and magnificent tomb that Michelangelo was carving for him. The Pope entrusted Donato Bramante, one of the most talented architects of the time, with the task of drawing up the plans for the new basilica. And Bramante faced a difficult task: to demolish and rebuild the most important church in Christendom, for which certain parts of the original construction had to be preserved. Work on the new church began in 1506, the same year another major Vatican institution, the Swiss Guard, was founded. Since then, these guards, whose uniforms were designed by Michelangelo, have been responsible for the Pope's security. Before his death in 1514, Bramante managed to complete the four central pillars and the arches that would support the dome. These are drawings by a Dutch artist who was in Rome at the time named Maarten van Heemskerck showing St. Peter's Basilica under construction, just as Bramante left it, you can see the large barrel vaults, with the old basilica still below. without demolishing. Over the next forty years, various architects and popes had their own ideas that differed from Bramante's about what the church should look like, and thanks to this endless debate, Rome became accustomed to an unfinished church, so much so that Raphael used the structure unfinished as the backdrop for his most famous work: a fresco he painted in the papal apartments. This is the classical architecture of antiquity, with its barrel vaults , hinged walls, and carved niches, but it is also the architecture of the Renaissance, represented by the new St. Peter's Basilica that Bramante managed to build, and he is placing this group of classical characters in that space. His work is titled “The School of Athens”, suggesting that these are the great Greek philosophers, the heroes of antiquity, these are the people who thought and conceived the ideas that the Renaissance intends to recover. In the center we have Aristotle and Plato in full discussion, here are Archimedes and Pythagoras, the great mathematicians, and this is Heraclitus, known to be a grumpy skeptic. Raphael not only matches the architecture of contemporary Rome, represented by Bramante's St. Peter's Basilica, with the architecture of classical Greece, but also the portraits of contemporary figures are codified in the School of Athens. If you look closely, Plato is a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, who Raphael would have known personally. If you look down here, the grumpy skeptic Heraclitus is a portrait of Michelangelo, and Euclid, the father of geometry is Bramante. And Rafael also includes himself in the composition. With this painting Raphael is saying: this is the school of Athens, these are the great thinkers of antiquity and we are them again. The Bramante plant is exceptional for its incredible delicacy, and for this idea of the centralized plant that he sought to capture through multiple organizations. Unfortunately, Bramante's design could not be executed because the structure was insufficient. Bramante intended to build a dome similar to that of the Pantheon, but it is not possible to support a compression dome on pillars, let alone such delicate pillars. The dome of the pantheon remains standing after two thousand years thanks to the thick and massive wall that surrounds the entire building. So, after Bramante's death, other architects submitted projects for San Pedro. In 1514, Raphael presented Pope Leo X with a design in the shape of a Latin cross, based on the plan of the ancient basilica. However, after the artist's death in 1520, Baldassare Peruzzi took up the project and decided to return to the cross. Greek as the main form of the plant. In 1538, during the papacy of Paul III, Antonio da Sangallo presented another version of the Latin cross plan, which is basically a revision and expansion of Raphael's design. He even went so far as to build a huge wooden model of his design; however, its scale was so large that it would have resulted in a great lack of lighting inside the temple. So, after Sangallo's death in 1546, the Pope appointed Michelangelo, now an old man, to finish the church. Michelangelo chose to take up Bramante's design, once again adopting the Greek cross, however, he simplified his predecessor's design, creating a more organic flow that linked the corner chapels with the rest of the church. And look at the amount of structure that Michelangelo incorporates into his plan compared to what Bramante had envisioned in his plan. He strengthened the central pillars of the church and the outer walls so that they could support the enormous weight of the building, at the same time, he reduced the number of inner walls to allow more light, creating a light and airy feeling inside. Michelangelo designed a façade inspired by the Pantheon, using two rows of massive columns and masterfully reinterpreting the dome. As a Florentine artist, Michelangelo was familiar with the striking silhouette of Brunelleschi's Dome in the church of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence and understood the profound impact such a silhouette can have on a city's skyline. While Bramante had devised a dome of stacked rings, Michelangelo opted for a model closer to Brunelleschi's Florentine model, a double dome more ovoid in shape than round, which had the advantage of transferring loads to the ground more directly. with ribs and a system of chains that had to go inside, and work in tension to counteract the lateral thrust. So Michelangelo demolished what had been built of the dome and rebuilt it with a taller, stronger, more vigorous vision, reaching for the sky. Michelangelo died in 1564 and only the drum in the dome had been completed. But such was Michelangelo's reputation that Vignola, Michelangelo 's assistant, was personally hired by Pope Pius V to ensure that Michelangelo's plans were not altered in the slightest. In 1585, Pope Sixtus V commissioned the architect Giacomo della Porta, assisted by Domenico Fontana, to complete the dome, and it was finished in 1590, as indicated by the inscription at the top. In 1605, Pope Paul V ordered the demolition of what remained of the old St. Peter's Basilica. And Michelangelo's project had a couple of problems at the start of the 17th century: first, it doesn't cover all the ground that had been consecrated by the old St. Peter's Church, and second, the Counter-Reformation called for a cross design. Latin for new churches, since the Greek cross plan did not take into account the ceremonial and sacramental rituals that were part of the church. Therefore, the Pope decided that a change in the work should be made and a nave added, both to fulfill the desire for longitudinal churches, and to cover all the tombs and all the holy ground and not allow them to be desecrated by being left. outside the church walls. Carlo Maderno was given the task, and in 1608, he began his work by tearing down Michelangelo 's still incomplete façade . This was a tragedy, because Michelangelo had designed the enormous dome surpassing almost everything that had been seen before, and as soon as you entered, you found yourself under its immensity. Maderno added three bays to the front and a large vestibule, destroying the original idea. Nowadays it is necessary to go through a tunnel of more than 90 meters long before reaching the dome. Michelangelo's church should have risen as a single mass, the eye would have taken it as one, but now the façade has no relation to the dome, which has been hidden, and cannot be seen when you stand in front of the building. Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is a triumph with half the size of St. Peter's, as there is a direct relationship between the exterior of the building and the interior. However, the architecture of San Pedro adopted another concept that was not present in Michelangelo's plan, the procession. As the pilgrim emerged from the narrow and tangled streets of Rome, he suddenly found himself in front of the new St. Peter's Basilica. From there, he was led past the obelisk in the center of the plaza up a series of steps that led up to a portico in front of a series of gigantic marble columns, and along its nave to the spectacular altar. In the frieze that is in the upper part of the walls of the nave, you can see verses from the Bible that Jesus told Peter inscribed in Latin. The altar is located on the remains of San Pedro and under the immense dome of Michelangelo. When the Pope says mass in St. Peter's Basilica, he is literally surrounded by this inscription at the base of the dome: “TV ES PETRVS ET SVPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM ET TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI CAELORVM”, which translates as: "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." These words proclaim the raison d'être of the church. The architectural character of the interior developed primarily in the 17th century under the direction of Bernini, who succeeded Maderno as architect of the basilica in 1629. To reduce the scale of the vast space below Michelangelo's dome, Bernini designed the canopy of bronze, a symbolic protective canopy over the main altar, which is located over the tomb of Saint Peter. To harmonize with the scale of the transept, the canopy rises more than 28 meters high; its spiral columns are not a baroque invention but a large-scale version of the marble columns seen at the height of the second level in the piers of the transept. These columns used to stand before the altar of the old basilica. The original spiral columns are believed to have been brought by Constantine from Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, so their continued use here links St. Peter's with the Holy Land. In the huge space of the basilica, the canopy clearly marks the otherwise insignificant spiritual center of the church. The height of the canopy, equivalent to a nine-story building, is not overwhelming from a distance due to the large proportions of the interior space of the temple. Beyond the canopy, and framed on the axis by its columns, is the work Bernini's highlight in the basilica: the Cathedra Petri, or Peter's Chair, an elaborate bronze reliquary built around the supposed wooden throne of the first apostle. The chair, lightly supported by four figures representing the Doctors of the Church, those men who established the doctrine of the faith, floats above the visitor's head against a glorious background, where golden rays emanate from a brilliantly lit alabaster center. on which rises the dove of the Holy Spirit. The interior walls present a colossal order of Corinthian pilasters, topped with semicircular barrel vaults, 46 meters high. The walls are lined with marble, and the dome is richly decorated with mosaics. Bernini was also responsible for the pavement, the decoration of the pillars, and the design of four sculptural groupings for altars and tombs. Maderno's work progressed rapidly thanks to the collaboration of more than 800 people working simultaneously on the basilica, and by 1612, as indicated by the inscription on the façade, he was able to complete the extension of the nave and façade. You can see in this drawing what Maderno had in mind when designing the façade: it shows a relationship between the dome and the body of the church, and two towers that flank it. However , the drawing is very idealized, because the dome is all the way back here, and the façade is in the front, there is no way that someone could see the dome from the realm of space immediately in front of San Pedro. Furthermore, the bell towers were not built before Maderno's death, and when Bernini tried to build them, the façade structure began to collapse, as he had miscalculated the weight of the towers, Bernini had trained as a sculptor, not an architect. An architect with more construction knowledge could have made sure the foundation was fortified before trying to put more weight on the system. They had to stop the construction of the bell towers and that is why when you look at the façade of San Pedro, the proportions look a bit strange, it was meant to have towers that would give you a more ideal ratio of base to height, but now the The façade looks too long and extensive, in fact, here you can see that the rectangle desired by Maderno to be flanked by these towers would have been a golden rectangle, and there would be another golden rectangle reaching the middle of the towers, a perfect square unifying the upper part of the towers with the façade, and a square that unifies the entire composition with the dome, a very pleasant geometry, which instead becomes somewhat excessive. Maderno's strategy for the façade was to make the center more dense and plastic, as well as to compress the columns towards the end of the temple figure, so that when you see an orthographic projection of the façade, the columns begin to resume the rhythm that you would get in an elevation drawing of something round, and in this case, it is the drawing of Bramante's Tempietto, one of the most influential buildings of the Renaissance. The basilica was finally consecrated in 1626, but it still needed an access courtyard. The old basilica had a courtyard, which was essential for various rites and celebrations, including blessings or special holidays when the Pope would come out to greet the crowds. At the center of today's St. Peter's Square is Sixtus V's contribution to shaping the space in front of the basilica: the 25-meter -high Vatican Obelisk, which was installed there in 1586. This was the Egyptian obelisk largest intact moved to Rome during the empire. It is unknown how the ancient Romans used to transport them, but the presence of several fractured ones indicates that their methods were not always successful. This obelisk was originally located in the center of the Circus of Nero. The task of Sixtus V's architect, Domenico Fontana, was to move it some 240 meters to its new location in the center of the Piazza, all without breaking the stone or damaging its carving. His solution to the problem was to enclose the obelisk in a protective wooden frame, transferring it to a horizontal position by means of ropes and pulleys, which were controlled by the coordinated action of men and horses, and then moving it on rollers to the new site. When the obelisk was raised in front of Saint Peter, the entire College of Cardinals and the citizens of Rome came to witness the spectacle. Barricades kept bystanders at a safe distance, and absolute silence was enforced during critical stages of the process so workers could hear and respond correctly to Fontana's signals, given by a trumpet and bell. And they erected it almost in the right place... as you can see, it's almost in the center, but not exactly. Having successfully removed the Obelisk from the Vatican, Fontana was commissioned to relocate three smaller obelisks in Rome. Those found today in Piazza del Popolo, in St. John Lateran and in the apse of Santa Maria Maggiore were placed by Fontana. For St. Peter's Square, Bernini implemented an ingenious strategy: he places the center of the square not immediately adjacent to the church, but instead uses the location of the obelisk as the center of an oval space, far enough from the church so that it can be seen. can begin to appreciate the dome. So even though you may have been denied a view of the dome by the length of the nave, Bernini places you far enough back so that you can see the dome. By moving the center of the esplanade so far, it became possible to read the dome and façade together again. The edges of the trapezoidal space connect with the façade at the point where the towers of Maderno's original project would have been, thus emphasizing Maderno's façade. But there is still a problem, this is as far back as you can stand, and still look at the façade of San Pedro, and you can only see the top of the dome. And this masterful drumming, this great plasticity of columns grouped in this double rhythm, forget it, you need to be on the other side of Rome to see it. It wasn't until the 20th century, when Mussolini blazed a path through Rome, that St. Peter's Basilica was connected to the Sistine diagram of these long, wide streets, and if you stand at the end of the street, then you'll be able to read the façade. and the dome together, which is really what you want to do. And if you look at the relationship between the basilica and the piazza, it almost looks like it's flipped over, so that where the obelisk sits sort of mirrors where St. Peter's tomb sits under the dome. And these stairs that are in front of the façade become a link between the church and the square. And if you stand at these specific points that are marked on the pavement, the rows of columns that make up the plaza, they line up so that you see a single row of columns, but if you're walking through the space it feels like you're walking on a column forest. And also look at how Bernini finishes the space of the square, he places the façade of a small Roman temple at the end of the colonnade. This is one of the noblest courtyards in Europe, a space that embraces the faithful. And this is a drawing made by Bernini, where he shows his concept for the colonnade: in his own words he intended to represent the “welcoming and maternal arms of Holy Mother Church”. If you want to better understand how Saint Peter's Basilica integrates into the urban fabric of Rome, I recommend that you go watch my video explaining the city of Rome. I hope this information has been useful to you, if you liked it please like and subscribe to my channel. Thank you very much for staying until the end and see you in the next episode. Bye bye!
