Pope Sylvester I, in the year 326 A.D., inaugurated the basilica, built by Emperor Constantine over the grave of St. Peter. The Apostle was martyred in the Circus of Nero in 64 or 67 A.D., and this Circus had always been located where the curch stands, until recent excavations proved that St. Peter's foundations were laid on virgin soil. This new fact has posed an archaeological question to which we do not as yet have the answer. The excavations also proved that the main altar of the church stands right over the grave of St. Peter. During the public audience of June 26th 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that the relics of St. Peter had been identified with consistent archaeological evidence. This was the result of the researches which started in 1939 under Pope Pius XII. The present church was started by Pope Julius II in 1506, and during the 120 years of reconstruction, almost all the major architects of Renaissance contributed in designing and redesigning it.Bramante was the first, and he also started the ruthless destruction of the old church. The new one he planned in the form of a Greek cross, but both Julius II and Bramante died after a few years, and owing to the political and economic situation of the papacy, the gigantic undertaking didn't make much progress until the 71-years-old Michelangelo, in 1546, was named architect-in-chief by Pope Paul III.
Michelangelo's final project was altered by Della Porta, who completed the Dome, and Carlo Maderno, who added the nave and the facade, and at Pope Paul V's command, changed the church into the form of a Latin cross. The new Basilica was consecrated on November 18th, 1626. Through the great central portal, under the Loggia of Benediction, from which the newly-elected Pope bestows his blessing, we enter the portico with the five bronze doors of the church. The central one was made for the old St. Peter's in 1445 by Filarete from Florence. At the extreme right is the Holly Door which is only opened every 25 years for the Jubilee Year.
When you are finally inside St. Peter's, you cannot at first sight appreciate its magnitude, for your sense of proportion is deceived by the scale of the various parts; you are more and more overwhelmed as you proceed and compare with life-size. A few figures are in any case eloquent; the length including the portico is 210 meters; the vault is 44 meters; and the far end of the central nave, the dove of the Holly Spirit has a wingspan of 1,5 meters. The church has a standing capacity of 60.000 people. Another idea of its size is given by the brass tablets on the floor of the central nave, with the comparative length of the greatest cathedrals in the world; second largest is St. Paul in London.
We begin our tour of the Church from the Chapel of the Pieta, where the finest sculpture of the whole church is kept. The Pieta (the Pity) by Michelangelo, which he made when he was only 24, represents the sorrow of the Madonna bolding her dead Son and Her acceptance of the will of God. It is the masterpiece of Michelangelo's youth, still under the influence of Florentine sculpture, and it is the only statue he ever signed. His name is to be found on the sash across the Madonna's breast. The Chapel of the Pieta was originally dedicated to the Crucifixion; on the empty cross we read the four letters (INRI) standing for Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum, the inscription put on the Cross to deride Christ. On the ceiling above the Pieta is the only fresco painting in the church, the Triumph of the Cross by Lanfranco, XVII century.
