St peter's Interior

When you first view the interior, the vastness gives an impression of coldness, yet its beauty is almost indescribable. It's area statistics are: 18,131 square yards, 608 feet in length; the length of the transept is 450 feet; height of the cupola is 435 feet and its diameter is 139 feet; on the floor of the Central Nave, marks show the approximate lengths of other large churches. To get the full view of the massiveness, you need to stand in the crossing. To give you a feel for its massiveness, looking up into the Dome from the Nave, it is as long as a football field standing on end. Michelangelo's Dome is supported by four pilasters, each with niches that contain impressive statues of Saints Andrew,

Longinus, Veronica, and Helena. Each of these pilasters also contain important relics; namely, the head of St. Andrew, the Holy Lance that was used to pierce the side of Christ (found near the True Cross by St. Helena), the veil of St. Veronica, and a piece of the True Cross brought to Rome by St. Helena. Around the Dome are the gigantic words "You are Peter and it is here where I will build my church". Central Nave. The first three arcades correspond to the lengthening carried out by Maderno. Between the pilasters supporting the cornice above which the arched vault curves, are niches containing statues of founders of religious orders. At the last pilaster on the right is the bronze statue of St. Peter Enthroned by Arnolfo di Cambio in the 13th century. One passes under the shining Cupola (one of the largest and most majestic architectural works of all time -- see camera icon below), it rises above a high tambour supported on colossal pillars. The vault, divide into 16 ribs is adorned by mosaics designed by G. Cesari. In the pillars are niches containing Baroque statues and loggias by Bernini, including the statue of St. Longinus. In the frieze of the trabeation (and of the tambour) is a Latin inscription which continues that in Greek of the apse (the letters are six feet high).


 

The Papal altar, under the celebrated Canopy by Bernini (1633) was made of bronze taken from the Pantheon. Maderno's magnificent Chapel of the Confession is in front of the altar; 95 lamps burn night and day before the "Tomb of St. Peter" in front of which is the statue of Pius VI at prayer, by Canova. NOTE: A tour of the Necropolis ("City of the Dead") below the Vatican is a 'must see'. From the entrance, you follow through the streets of the cemetery up Vatican Hill to St. Peter's tomb and end up underneath the present Vatican in the Sacred Grottoes, where you view the tomb from beneath the Vatican floor. In the Basilica, you view the tomb from above the Vatican floor.