St. Peter's Basilica

A community portal about St. Peter's Basilica with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: The Basilica of Saint Peter, officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and colloquially called Saint... [more]

A community portal about St. Peter's Basilica with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: The Basilica of Saint Peter, officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and colloquially called Saint Peter's Basilica, ranks second among the four major basilicas of Rome. It is the most prominent building inside the Vatican City. Its dome is also a dominant feature of the Roman skyline. Saint Peter's Basilica incidentally is also the patriarchal basilica of Constantinople whereas the Lateran Basilica is the patriarchal basilica of Rome. Possibly the largest church in Christianity, it covers an area of 23,000 m and has a capacity of over 60,000 people. One of the holiest sites of Christendom in the Catholic tradition, it is traditionally the burial site of basilica namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, first Bishop of Antioch, and later first Bishop of Rome. Although the New Testament does not mention Peter either in Rome, or martyred there, ancient tradition holds that his tomb is below the baldachino and altar ; for this reason, many Popes, starting with the first ones, have been buried there. Construction on the current basilica began on April 18, 1506 and was completed in 1626, and was built over the Constantinian basilica.