St. Peter's Cathedral, Vatican

St Peter's basilica

synonym

St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican generally refers to St. Peter's Cathedral

St. Peter's Basilica church is also called St. Peter's Cathedral and Vatican hall. Designed and perfected by architects such as bramont and Michelangelo, it is a Catholic cathedral in the Vatican. It was built between 1506 and 1626 and is one of the important symbols of the Catholic Church.

As the most outstanding Renaissance building and the largest church in the world, it covers an area of 23000 square meters and can accommodate more than 60000 people. In the center of the church is a dome with a diameter of 42 meters and a height of 138 meters. In front of it are St. Peter's Square and Concord Avenue. Although it is not the "Mother Church" of all Catholic churches, nor the Episcopal Church of the Roman bishop (Pope), St. Peter's Cathedral is still regarded as the most sacred place of the Catholic Church.

Many Italian Renaissance architects and artists, such as Donato bramont, Raphael, Michelangelo and Antonio Da sangaro, participated in the design of St. Peter's Cathedral. The designer of St. Peter's Square is Bernini. There are murals and sculptures of many European Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael in the hall.

According to the canon of the Catholic Church, St. Peter's Cathedral is the burial place of St. Peter, the head of the apostle, and most of the previous Pope are also buried here.

St. Peter's Cathedral is one of the famous places for Catholic pilgrimage because of its ceremonial function. Every year, the Pope holds a number of ceremonies here, including the number of people inside and outside the temple. Each time, about 15000 to 80000 people participate. St. Peter's Cathedral is closely related to many events in the history of Christianity, such as early Christianity, suzerain, reformation, anti reformation and so on.

Architectural history

The church was first built by Constantine the great in the cemetery of St. Peter in 326-333, called the old St. Peter's Cathedral, which was completed in 333.

In 1503, Julius II decided to rebuild St. Peter's Cathedral, followed by 120 years of reconstruction, which was successively designed and constructed by the best Italian architects. After the first director, Donato bramont, Raphael was appointed director in 1514, then Antonio Da sangaro Jr. in 1538 and Michelangelo in 1547. It was officially completed on November 18, 1626

The world-famous St. Peter's Square is the open-air square in front of St. Peter's Cathedral. It was built in 1667 by Bernini, a Neapolitan.

building structure

St. Peter's Cathedral is now the largest church in the world, with a total area of 23000 square meters. The main building is 45.4 meters high and about 211 meters long. It can accommodate up to 60000 people praying at the same time, but only when they are dressed neatly and pass the security check can they enter the church.

In the corridor on the right side of the entrance is Michelangelo's work Peter when he was 23 years old. Can only appreciate through the glass, but still can move anyone's heart.

The third chapel in front, cappella del Sacramento, has an altar built by benini. On the left side and the wall opposite the second and third chapels, there is a bronze monument built by boleworo for inorzo VIII.

The entrance to the dome is on the right side of the facade facing the outside of the church. Despite the elevators, there are 330 steps to the roof garden. The sunset from the roof of St. Peter's Square is the most beautiful.

The central dome is designed by Michelangelo. It has a double structure and a bright interior. Under the dome is the Pope's altar, covered with a bronze canopy by benini. The unique shape of the twisted thick column is striking. There's St. Peter's tomb in the chapel below. Kneeling in front of the tomb is a statue of Pope Theo VI by canoba, a neoclassical sculptor. Inside, there are pigeons made of stained glass at the top, and the huge "St. Peter's chair" made by benini is decorated at the bottom. On the left in front of them is the entrance to the treasure house. Those luxurious sacrifiers show the power of the Vatican.

Appearance design

In front of the church is St. Peter's Square, which can accommodate 300000 people. The square is 340 meters long and 240 meters wide. It is surrounded by two semicircular corridors. Each corridor is supported by 284 tall round stone columns. On the top of the corridor are 142 famous statues of Saint men and Saint women in the history of the church. The statues are vivid. In the middle of the square stands a 41 meter high Egyptian obelisk, which was erected in 1856 and is carved from a whole stone. There is a beautiful fountain on both sides of the obelisk, which symbolizes the water of life given by God. All the people who walked into St. Peter's square were filled with emotion for the grand scene.

There is a tall statue of St. Peter on the left in front of the door of St. Peter's Cathedral. He is self-confident and smiling. In his right hand, he holds two golden keys to heaven that Jesus gave him, and in his left hand, he holds a scroll of edicts that Jesus gave him. The curly hair on his head, the wrinkles on his face, the whiskers on his chin and the layers of robes on his body are all exquisitely and realistically carved. If you paint your face and hair with real colors, you will be regarded as a real person. Peter became the leader of Catholicism. He came to Rome to preach. Later, the emperor of Rome set fire to Rome in order to frame Catholicism. Then he blamed Catholicism and killed Peter. St. Peter's Cathedral was built in memory of Peter. On the right side of the church door stands another tall and exquisite statue, which is said to be another important apostle of Jesus: Paul. He was one of the chief culprits of persecuting Christians after Jesus returned to the kingdom of heaven. Later, on the way to Damascus, he was covered with the light of Jesus and talked with him, so that he could know Jesus and know that Jesus was the true God. Paul is the most important preacher of Christianity besides Jesus Christ.

The facade of the cathedral is 115 meters wide and 45 meters high. It is symmetrical on both sides with the central line as the axis. Eight columns are symmetrical in the middle and four square columns are arranged on both sides. There are five gates between the columns. There are three balconies on the second floor. The middle one is called blessing balcony. On weekdays, the door of the balcony is closed. On major religious festivals, the Pope will appear on the blessing balcony to bless the coming believers. There is a statue of Jesus standing in the middle of the flat top of the church. On both sides are the statues of his 12 disciples, lined up. There are many exquisite decorations on the high dome.

The door on the left side of the cathedral is guarded by the Royal Guard, which is the army of the Vatican state. The guards are tall and burly. They wear the ancient Knight costume of red, yellow and blue stripes, and hold halberds. They are all Swiss. It is said that in the early 16th century, Emperor Clement VII was attacked by the Holy Roman Empire. In order to defend the Pope, more than 100 Swiss guards died outside the church. The Pope was very moved at that time, so he decided to hire Swiss guards to defend the church for generations.

internal structure

Walking into the cathedral, you pass a corridor. The white marble pillars with light colored patterns are carved with exquisite patterns. There are many figures on the vault of the long corridor from left to right, and the whole yellowish brown top is covered with three-dimensional patterns and patterns. The hall is 186 meters long, with a total area of 15000 square meters, and can accommodate 60000 people. Tall stone pillars and walls, arched ceiling, colorful patterns, lifelike statues, exquisite and meticulous relief, and the floor made of colored marble are shining. St. Peter's Cathedral is a rectangular church, the whole building presents a cross structure, the shape is very traditional and sacred, which is also the largest church in the world. The church was first built in 324 ad. the original idea was just to build a small hall directly above St. Peter's tomb. It began to be rebuilt in the 15th century. After modification by many top architects and artists, it was finally completed in 1626. St. Peter's church is not only a magnificent temple worthy of visiting, but also an invaluable asset with hundreds of art treasures. We must grasp several important features of this church, because it covers a vast area, and we don't know where to look after entering.

The interior of the church is gorgeous, so gorgeous that it is frightening and suffocating. The famous arched roof in the center of the church we see is Michelangelo's masterpiece, double structure, dark outside and bright inside. For this dome, there have been twists and turns for a hundred years, first designed by Bramante in 1506, and replaced by Raphael after his death in 1514. Six years later, Raphael also died. The church drew lessons from Gothic design on the top of the church, emphasized the contrast between dark and light, and adopted rose windows. Therefore, the dome was cancelled because of the consideration of the light contrast effect at the entrance of the church. Later, Michelangelo took over the job at the age of 71 and restored the dome in the name of "love for God, for the Virgin Mary and for St. Peter". On the eaves of the dome

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