The entire square encircles a red granite obelisk, over eighty feet high and weighing a million pounds! What is its origin? It was plundered from ancient Heliopolis by Caligula and erected in the circus that Nero completed. The obelisk bears dedicatory inscriptions to Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius. In the shadow of this Egyptian pillar, Christians met untimely deaths nineteen centuries ago. Then how did it get here in Saint Peter’s Square?

It was moved at the behest of Pope Sixtus V and was erected in the Vatican on September 14, 1586, a Wednesday, always viewed by Sixtus as a “lucky day.” This also happened to be the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. In view of its pagan connections, the pope attempted to have the heathen spirit of the monolith exorcised.

Saint Peter’s Basilica

According to Catholic tradition, the apostle Peter suffered martyrdom and was buried in Rome. On the other hand, the Holy Scriptures neither say nor imply that the apostle ever was in that city.a In about 325 C.E., however, Roman Emperor Constantine began building a great basilica over the supposed tomb of Peter.

In 1506 Pope Julius II decided to rebuild the basilica. Donato Bramante was the first of the church’s many architects, among whom was Michelangelo. When finally dedicated by Urban VIII in 1626, the basilica had the form of a Latin cross. Some 614 feet long, with an overall area of about 163,000 square feet, the building can accommodate an estimated 80,000 persons. Yes, it is mammoth​—the largest church in the world.

Rising 435 feet above the basilica floor (where the long and short arms of the crosslike structure transect) is the great dome of mosaic and gilt. It is about 138 feet in diameter. Sixteen separate panels in the dome depict Jesus Christ, his mother Mary, the apostles and “saints.”

Beneath the massive dome of the basilica is the High Altar. Here only the pope (or a cardinal whom he designates in his stead) can celebrate Mass. Over the altar is a canopy that Bernini fashioned, using bronze plates that Pope Urban VIII took from Rome’s well-preserved Pantheon, a pagan temple.

Why such a huge and opulent edifice as Saint Peter’s Basilica? Shedding some light on this, André Biéler wrote: “Maderno was to transform the [original] Greek cross plan into a Latin cross, and Bernini was to finish off by introducing ostentatious embellishments and by enlarging the plan with the two immense arms of the great colonnade. They were concerned to prove to the world, in face of the Reformation, that Rome, the powerful and magnificent head of Christianity, was once more brilliantly resplendent. St. Peter’s had to express ‘the grandeur, the strength, the power, in a word the majesty, of the Catholic Church’. We can find in the very material execution of this sanctuary the essential continuity between Roman ostentation and the showy protocol of paganism.”​—Architecture in Worship.

Noteworthy Artworks

Numerous works of art are found in the basilica. For instance, we pause to view Michelangelo’s renowned Pietà, a sculpture of the dead Jesus on the knees of his mother Mary. Originally it was to adorn the tomb of a French cardinal. Incidentally, after hearing certain pilgrims ascribe this work to Cristoforo Solari, by night Michelangelo added a ribbon on which he inscribed his own name. This band runs from Mary’s left shoulder to her right hip, drawing unmistakable attention to the sculptor.

Inside an ornate bronze case made by Bernini is a relic used by popes for centuries during special ceremonies, and which has long been venerated as the chair of “Saint” Peter. Its front has eighteen ivory panels, representing the twelve labors of the mythological Hercules, as well as six monsters that may be signs of the Zodiac. In actual fact, Peter never occupied this seat. Carbon 14 testing supports the ninth century C.E., some 700 years after Peter died, as being the date of it. On one ivory strip is a bust of Charles the Bald, Roman emperor and king of the West Franks. Probably this oaken throne was brought to Rome for Charles’ coronation by Pope John VIII, in December 875 C.E. Yet, several years after the Vatican acknowledged its origin (in November 1969), this medieval chair still occupied an honored place in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Your interest now is drawn to a bronze statue of “Saint” Peter, seated on a throne, with a halo over his head and his right foot extended. In 1857 Pius IX granted a fifty-day indulgence to anyone who kissed the toe of that lifeless foot. Many pilgrims kiss it, then make the sign of the cross. The toes of the unkissed left foot are well defined. But those of the right are worn away, apparently by the kisses and caresses of reverent thousands. On Peter’s feast day this statue is adorned with gem-studded papal miter and garb. What we see makes us recall the inspired psalm that speaks of silent, sightless, deaf idols, with “hands unfeeling, feet unstirring.”​—Ps. 113:13-16, Knox.

According to tradition, this statue was cast in the fourth or the fifth century C.E., though it also has been ascribed to the thirteenth century. Yet, others view it differently. For instance, concerning it, R.C. Wyndham’s Practical Guide to the Principal Sights of Rome states: “The statue was originally that of Jupiter in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, but has been converted to a holier purpose by the Pope.”