Italy Blog #58: St. Peters Basilica, Pieta and The Dome

Tom outside of St. Peter's

In this blog, we're moving from the Sistine Chapel (in Rome) into St. Peter's Basilica (they're connected) where we'll show you the famous statue of the Pieta and a gruesome custom of displaying dead popes in glass coffins. Yeah, really.

ABOUT ST. PETER'S- The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or simply St. Peter's Basilica, is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome.

The  Pieta

THE PIETA - The Pietà is a work of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. It's pretty large. It's  5′ 9″ x 6′ 5,″ In 1497, a cardinal named Jean de Billheres commissioned Michelangelo to create a work of sculpture to go into a side chapel at Old St. Peter’s Basilica.
The scene of the Pieta shows the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Christ after his crucifixion, death, and removal from the cross, but before he was placed in the tomb. 
FAST FACT - It was carved out of one block of marble. 

St. Peter's Altar

STATS OF THE INSIDE OF ST. PETER'S:
these are the dimensions of St. Peter’s basilica relevant for our little project (via Wikipedia):

Inside the crowded St. Peter's

Interior length:     693.8 ft.
Interior width at transept:     451 ft.
Interior width of nave:     90.2 ft.
Interior height of dome:     393 ft.

St. Peter's dome

VATICAN FACTS - The land covers 44 acres and 900 people live there.

ST. PETER'S BASILICA DOME - The dome was designed by Michelangelo, but he died before it was finished. It was completed in 1566. It marked the highest spot in Rome and stands 300 feet high than anything else.
 NEXT:  THE DISPLAY OF THE DEAD POPES (Really)