St. Peter's Square

Coordinates: 41°54′08″N 12°27′26″E / 41.9022°N 12.4572°E / 41.9022; 12.4572
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Saint Peters Square
)
For other uses, see St. Peter's Square (disambiguation).

St. Peter's Square
Piazza San Pietro
City square
Gianlorenzo Bernini
LocationVatican City
Map
Click on the map for a fullscreen view
Coordinates: 41°54′08″N 12°27′26″E / 41.9022°N 12.4572°E / 41.9022; 12.4572

Saint Peter's Square (

Latin: Forum Sancti Petri, Italian: Piazza San Pietro [ˈpjattsa sam ˈpjɛːtro]) 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 (rione) 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.

At the centre of the square is the

colonnades,[1][2] four columns deep, which embrace visitors in "the maternal arms of Mother Church". A granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain designed by Carlo Maderno
in 1613.

Evening aerial view of the piazza and basilica

History

Fresco of St. Peter's Square, c. 1587, before the dome of the new St. Peter's Basilica or the façade had been built[3]

The open space which lies before the basilica was redesigned by Gian Lorenzo Bernini from 1656 to 1667, under the direction of Pope Alexander VII, as an appropriate forecourt, designed "so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle of the façade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace".[4] Bernini had been working on the interior of St. Peter's for decades; now he gave order to the space with his renowned colonnades, using a simplified Doric order,[5][6] to avoid competing with the palace-like façade by Carlo Maderno, but he employed it on an unprecedented colossal scale to suit the space and evoke a sense of awe.

St. Peter's Square is located in Vatican City
St. Peter's Square
class=notpageimage|
St. Peter's Square within Vatican City

There were many constraints from existing structures (illustration, right). The massed accretions of the

perspective for a visitor leaving the basilica and has been praised as a masterstroke of Baroque
theater (illustration, below right), is largely a product of site constraints.

According to the Lateran Treaty the area of St. Peter's Square is subject to the authority of Italian police for crowd control even though it is a part of the Vatican state.

St. Peter's Square and Basilica, 1909
St. Peter's Square and Basilica, 1909

Colonnades

St. Peter's Square colonnades

The colossal Doric colonnades, four columns deep,[9] frame the trapezoidal entrance to the basilica and the massive elliptical area[10] which precedes it. The ovato tondo's long axis, parallel to the basilica's façade, creates a pause in the sequence of forward movements that is characteristic of a Baroque monumental approach. The colonnades define the piazza. The elliptical center of the piazza, which contrasts with the trapezoidal entrance, encloses the visitor with "the maternal arms of Mother Church" in Bernini's expression. On the south side, the colonnades define and formalize the space, with the Barberini Gardens still rising to a skyline of umbrella pines. On the north side, the colonnade masks an assortment of Vatican structures; the upper stories of the Vatican Palace rise above.

Obelisk

A reconstruction of Old Saint Peter's in 1450; at left is the obelisk in its previous location.
Main article: Vatican obelisk

At the center of the ovato tondo stands the

Heliopolis
, Egypt, by an unknown pharaoh.

The obelisk today

The Emperor

spina which ran along the center of the Circus of Nero
. It was moved to its current site in 1586 by the engineer-architect
Alexander VII
.

current
basilicas
One possible modern interpretation[12]

Paving

The paving is varied by radiating lines in travertine, to relieve what might otherwise be a sea of setts. In 1817 circular stones were set to mark the tip of the obelisk's shadow at noon as the sun entered each of the signs of the zodiac, making the obelisk a gigantic sundial's gnomon. Below is a view of St. Peter's Square from the cupola (the top of the dome) which was taken in June 2007.

View of Rome from the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica, June 2007
View of Rome from the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica, June 2007

Spina

St. Peter's Square today can be reached from the

Great Jubilee
of 1950.

St. Peter's Square (facing St. Peter's Basilica), and the obelisk from the Circus of Nero
St. Peter's Square (facing St. Peter's Basilica), and the obelisk from the Circus of Nero

See also

References

  1. ^ William Tronzo, ed., St. Peter's in the Vatican, Cambridge University Press, 2005, page 149.
  2. ^ Franco Mormondo, Bernini: His Life and His Rome, University of Chicago Press, 2011, page 203.
  3. ISBN 9780500231074
    .
  4. ^ Norwich (1975), p. 175)
  5. ^ William Tronzo, ed., St. Peter's in the Vatican, Cambridge University Press, 2005, page 149.
  6. ^ Franco Mormondo, Bernini: His Life and His Rome, University of Chicago Press, 2011, page 203.
  7. ^ It was set up in 1613 by order of Paul V
  8. ^ The actual foci are marked in the paving by roundels of stone six or seven metres beyond the outer ring of the compass rose centered on the obelisk, on either side. When the visitor stands on one, the ranks of columns line up perfectly behind one another. (Touring Club Italiano, Roma e Dintorni).
  9. Alexander VII
    .
  10. ^ The ovato tondo is 240 metres across.
  11. ^ Touring Club Italiano, Roma e Dintorni, which furnishes the statistics in these notes.
  12. ^ Based on "Outline of St. Peter's, Old St. Peter's, and Circus of Nero".

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Piazza San Pietro.
External videos
video icon Bernini's St. Peter's Square, Smarthistory
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