Discover St. Peter's Basilica

Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, surrounded by the city of Rome, is a sight that delights the eye and captures wonder and beauty from every angle. With a dome that may have helped to inspire Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, among others, Saint Peter's rises over Vatican City like a shining star.

The Saint Peter's Basilica, also known as the Basilica of Saint Peter, is the foremost place of worship of His Holiness, the Pope, who is the Catholic people's religious leader. Public religious ceremonies officiated by the Pope are often performed within the Cathedral. This is primarily due to the Cathedral's size, which can hold about 60,000 people, as well as the proximity of the Cathedral to the Papal Residence within Vatican City.

The Saint in question was Peter, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, first Bishop of Antioch, and later first Bishop of Rome. Legend has it that Saint Peter himself is buried under the altar stone, although there are no biblical references to Peter having been in Rome or martyred there.

Short History

The Basilica of Saint Peter's construction began on April 18, 1506, and it was not completed until over 100 years later, in 1626. It was built up over the Constantinian basilica that was there before. The Cathedral's altar supposedly holds a relic of the Cathedra Petri, the episcopal throne of Saint Peter himself from when he led the Roman church. The cathedra (meaning 'chair') is supposed to have been contained within the altarpiece designed by Bernini.

Dome and architecture

Michelangelo was one of the chief architects who worked on Saint Peter's Cathedral, among other famous and brilliant architects. Michelangelo's design called for a spherical dome, which was an improvement over his predecessor's design. After he died in 1564, however, another architect redesigned the dome and built it with Domenico Fontana's help, the day's best engineer. The dome is actually a double dome and is made of brick. Visitors can climb the spiral stairs within the dome and look out over Vatican City. The dome's inner diameter is 138.8 feet, which makes it almost as large as the Roman Pantheon. The dome rises 394 feet above the floor of the Cathedral. Visitors climbing the dome might notice four iron chains around the inner dome. These were placed there in the mid-18th century to stop cracks that were appearing in the inner dome. The chains are supposed to bind the dome-like rings on a barrel. Everything about the basilica seems larger than life, including the grandiose interior of the Cathedral itself, Michelangelo's sculpture, Pietà, being only one of these. Statues look down on you from everywhere within the Cathedral representing various saints and Popes. There are several chapels and many altars in addition to the main altar.

The final resting place of popes

There are 91 popes buried beneath the basilica besides the holy bones of St. Peter. Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, being the most recent interment. The most famous woman entombed in the Cathedral is Christina of Sweden, who abdicated her throne to convert to the Catholic faith. Queen Christina is one of only four women who have been honored to be buried within the cathedral and is buried near the English Royal Stuarts who also lost their thrones because of their Catholicism.

A major pilgrimage site and tourist attracton

The Basilica of Saint Peter is an amazing place to see if you are in Rome and a good reason to come to Rome if you are not. 

Four architects, one building, and you can see the joins. The reference work credits it principally to Bramante, Michelangelo and Carlo Maderno, with the piazza and fittings by Bernini — and because the work ran from 1506 to 1626, the church is a sequence of arguments rather than a single design.

The dome is Michelangelo's and it is the part that governs everything. Turismo Roma records that he designed it and that it was completed by Della Porta and Fontana in 1588-89, after his death. It sits over the crossing, and the whole building is organised to deliver you to the spot beneath it.

The facade is Maderno's and it is the compromise. Turismo Roma gives it as 115 metres long, a seventeenth-century front put on a sixteenth-century church when the plan was extended from a Greek cross to a Latin one. That extension is why the dome, which Michelangelo meant to dominate the approach, disappears behind the facade as you cross the piazza and only reappears from a distance.

Inside, the nave is three bays with piers supporting a barrel vault — the reference work calls it the highest of any church — and it leads to the central dome. At the crossing stands Bernini's baldachin, a bronze canopy over the papal altar, which Turismo Roma notes carries the Barberini bee: Urban VIII's family arms, on the largest single object in the largest church in the world.

A hundred and twenty years, and the architect of the dome never saw it closed.

There was a church here first. Turismo Roma records that the primitive Basilica of St Peter, comparable in size to the present one, was erected around 320 by the Emperor Constantine — so the site had already carried a very large building for eleven centuries before anyone decided to replace it.

The rebuilding began on 18 April 1506 and the reference work gives completion as 18 November 1626: a hundred and twenty years, which Turismo Roma rounds to roughly two hundred from the mid-fifteenth-century decision. Over that span the design passed through Bramante, Michelangelo and Maderno, with Bernini adding the fittings and the piazza afterwards.

The dome was the hard part and it was finished posthumously. Michelangelo designed it; Della Porta and Fontana completed it in 1588-89. He had taken on the work late in life and the structure that defines the Roman skyline was raised by other men working to his drawings.

The last structural decision changed what the building means. Maderno's 115-metre facade came with an extension of the nave, turning a centralised plan into a longitudinal one. It gave the church the processional interior it has, and it cost the dome its view from the square.

Does it cost anything? Entering the basilica is free. The dome, the treasury museum and the necropolis are ticketed separately through the basilica's own site.

How much is the dome? The basilica publishes its prices only inside a booking flow, not as text, so this page does not quote a figure. Buy at basilicasanpietro.va.

When is it open? The basilica gives 07.00-20.00 from 1 June. The dome runs 07.30-17.00 in winter and 07.00-18.00 in summer — it closes well before the church.

Is there a dress code? Yes, and it is enforced: shoulders and knees covered.

How old is it? The present church was begun on 18 April 1506 and completed on 18 November 1626. A basilica comparable in size stood here from around 320, built by Constantine.

Who designed it? Principally Bramante, Michelangelo and Carlo Maderno, with the piazza and fittings by Bernini. Michelangelo's dome was completed by Della Porta and Fontana in 1588-89; Maderno's facade is 115 metres long.

Is it the biggest church in the world? The reference work calls it the largest church in the world by interior measure.

Where is the Pietà? To the right of the entrance, behind glass. Michelangelo, 1498-99.

How long does it take? About 90 minutes for the church, an hour more for the dome, plus the security queue.