Saint Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica

Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano

Carlo Maderno (Italian architect, ca. 1556 - 1629)

Donato Bramante (Italian architect, 1444-1514)

Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian architect, 1475-1564)

Pirro Ligorio (Italian architect, painter, ca. 1500-1583)

Holy See

Vatican City, Roma, Italy

Piazza San Pietro

Italy

ca. 1506-1616 (creation)

16th century

17th century

longitudinal section of the basilica, sections

Bramante was hired by Julius II to begin a radical reconstruction, to replace Old Saint Peter's, and intensive planning by Bramante, Giuliano da Sangallo and Fra Giovanni Giocondo preceded the laying of the foundation stone on 18 April 1506. Since Bramante's first designs of 1506, half a dozen architects had worked under five successive popes, all bringing their own revisions with them. In the 18 remaining years of his life Michelangelo succeeded in 'uniting into a whole the great body of that machine' (Vasari), ensuring that the crossing and dome would follow his overall design, even though the façade and nave remained unresolved. His new design, as presented in the engravings (1569) by Etienne Dupérac, took the form of a centralized building over a Greek cross. The façade was built between 1607 and 1625, and the nave was finally consecrated in 1626

the confessio was built to Maderno's design in 1615-1616. Restoration of the façade (1996-1999) has restated the discreet colour which Maderno used to enhance the effect of his architecture.

line drawings (drawings)

Architectural Documentation

cathedrals

churches

religious buildings

sections

Renaissance

Italian

architectural exteriors

architectural interiors

rulers and leaders

Julius II, Pope, 1443-1513

Peter, the Apostle, Saint

Anderson, William J. The Architecture of the Renaissance in Italy

a General View for the Use of Students and Others. Third edition. London: B. T. Batsford, 1901, 106.

Public Domain

part of Piazza San Pietro

Dome of Saint Peter's

Maderno, Carlo

Bramante, Donato

Buonarroti, Michelangelo

Ligorio, Pirro