Monuments that fascinate

Tags

documents, Italy, Rome, tomb, Vatican

Living in Rome means that you will everyday see some type of work on very ancient buildings or monuments from the Republican period before 50 BC to Imperial Roman period up to 400 AD. Archeology is a huge business in Rome and employs scholars from around the world. Romans are very attentive to their past and guard it carefully. The reason why the construction of Line C of the metro of Rome is 20 years behind schedule is because of historical discovery and extensive archeological work. While living in Rome we were fortunate to visit sites that reopened after being closed for 50 years for extensive research and study work. The private house of Augustus on the Palatine and next door the house of his wife Livia is one example, I would call them austere and simple, not Hollywood palaces. The Domus Aurea of Nero reopened just last year, it was and had been closed for decades while we lived in Rome. Also we were able to visit exhibits of rare artifacts very rarely seen in public. One such exhibit was on the Secret Library and Archives of the Vatican. The secret is that there are no secrets, what we did see though was fascinating, the Vatican keeps every piece of paper, every document on any topic. All carefully catalogue and preserved, correspondence between the Holy See and Princes or Kings. Books of all kinds, official decrees, even pornography from ancient times. Why keep it all? Well because then you can use it to support your point of view and show what was said or done. There is or was an element of vanity in all this, to show how the Holy See communicated with the powerful of this world. Who could then deny that the Pope was not important or did not have authority to influence the course of history. What mere mortals think would be sinful or forbidden is kept, why? Well maybe to show that human nature does not change, there is a certain moral story about it all. Some of the Official documents when you read them shed a different perspective on history. Letters often have a personal and intimate tone, despite the fact that they are official documents.

Then comes the monuments and various buildings of Rome, starting with the huts of Romulus, the ruins of the Temple of the Sybil or that of the Furies in Trastevere which was a cursed site, how about the Gate of Hell with its staircase in the Forum next to the Arch of Septimus Severus.

One such ancient monument is the Mausoleum of Augustus, the first Emperor. He was know as Octavian and was the nephew and adopted son of Julius Cesar. He was proclaimed Imperator and August by the Senate of Rome. His legacy to the Western World is important on many different levels. His ruined Mausoleum in Rome survives to this day and has undergone studies and renovations since 1933. Since 2000 even more in depth study of the structure has been undertaken and the amount of information on this monument is impressive.

Photo from the 1970’s before the latest round of study were undertaken. On the far left of the photo we can see the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) dedicated to Augustus, his life’s work and his family. The Ara Pacis is very well preserved and wonderful to visit.

This is what the Mausoleum of Augustus looked like in antiquity. Several members of his family had their ashes interred here. The round tomb concept recalls the ancient Etruscans whose mausoleum can be seen just outside of Rome.

En passant…

Tags

Borghese, museum, Vatican

Today a friend who lives in Rome sent a little comment about his visit to the Villa Borghese. This famous museum only admits 80 persons per hour instead of the usual 300 person per hour due to Covid 19 concerns.

Given the size of the building it must be a delight to be in such a magnificent building with so few people and so much spectacular art work.

I remember walking in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, something I did many times given that we lived near by, I would go there just to relax and enjoy the greenery. The garden is the third largest in Rome, you can walk for hours all around it. The land was first acquired by the Borghese family in 1605, located on the ancient site of the Gardens of Lucullus, 60 BC, just outside the city walls built by Marcus Aurelius you can enter from the top of the Spanish Steps turning to the left or from Via Flaminia or at Porta Pinciana which was closest to my home. In Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, bought the land in 1605 it was mostly a vineyard and covered a large area slopping down the Pincian Hill towards the Porta del Popolo and Via Flaminia. Today the vineyard is gone but was replaced with formal gardens in the French Style by Cardinal Borghese and later in the 19th century an English romantic gardens with ancient ruins, lakes and fountains was created giving the place an atmosphere both peaceful and serene.

Such huge estates acquired by noble families were used mostly to escape the city in Summer and many had large villas or palaces built within, such homes all have the one architectural features which is a roof top terrace to catch the evening wind coming off the Mediterranean sea towards Rome. This feature we enjoyed while in Rome dining on our terrace watching the ballet of small bats amongst the Maritime Pines.

Villa Borghese in Italian refers to an Estate and not to a building per se. In fact Cardinal Scipione built the Galleria Borghese which looks like a large palace simply to house his art collection so he could sit in various grand rooms and admire the works of art while having lunch or entertaining friends with music or discussions, it was not meant to be lived in. He would spend a few hours at the Galleria and then return to his home in the City. The family left its mark on Rome, his uncle Pope Paul V Borghese’s name is inscribed in bronze letters above the main entrance of St-Peter’s Basilica, he commissioned Bernini to do many works of art and architecture to enhance St-Peter’s and the semi-circular colonnade of the famous Piazza.

One of the magnificent rooms of the Galleria, your eye is drawn to look everywhere at once, it can be overwhelming.

On the grounds of the Villa Borghese you can see other large buildings, built for the 1911 World Expo, one today is known as the British School of Rome, the other is the Galleria Nazionale D’Arte Moderna with works from the 19th to 20th century. Both are formal and grand buildings in the Beaux Arts style. The Silvano Toti Globe Theatre is a copy of the Globe of London and presents Shakespeare’s Plays in Italian.

I always enjoyed this park, it is formal and relates to the history of Rome from antiquity, the vistas are enchanting so much so that Ottorino Respighi was inspired to composed the music entitled The Pines of Rome and I can see why.  Though Rome surrounds the gardens nowadays, it is very peaceful and quiet once you enter it.

View of the lake and the temple to the God of Medicine, Asclepius

Formal entrance from Via Flaminia, the gates speak of the grandeur of the Borghese Family with their coat of Arms and the Griffon and Eagle. The gates are closed at night. The Villa Borghese since 1903 is a public garden maintained by the City of Rome. The Borghese Family continues to this day, with assets in cosmetics, real estate, and other business lines with properties in Italy and in the USA.

Looking at my readers

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2017, 2018, Australia, blog, Canada., followers, France, Germany, Holy See, Italy, life, mexico, Netherlands, PEI, readers, Spain, Turkey, UK, USA, Vatican

I am looking at the stats for my blog and who is coming to read and maybe comment on my blog. Interesting stats, about 18,000 readers a year from around the planet, in some cases I wonder how they got attracted to my blog and why they would come back and comment or read again and again. I also noticed that those countries who do not appear at all on my list of readers are countries where either they have highly controlled internet (police state) like Belarus, Iran or are countries where the internet does not exist because of poor infrastructure and lack of reliable electric supply, like the Congo or Afghanistan. What intrigues me is readers from the Holy See (Vatican) which has a population of 921 people and is the smallest European Country totally surrounded by the City of Rome, must be some Cardinal no doubt. Then there readers from tiny places in the world like the Seychelles Islands, a group of 115 islands forming one republic in the North West corner of the Indian Ocean.

The largest group of readers are from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Spain, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany, France, India, Turkey, Brazil. I also have 225 followers of my blog.

I always find it interesting to see how many diverse followers I have to my blog. People like to read what goes on elsewhere in the world and try to imagine maybe how life is in parts of the world they have not visited.  I am happy for their readership and who knows maybe they will want to visit or read more about Canada’s smallest Province Prince Edward Island and its small population of 150,000 persons.

For the readers, you all know that I write mostly about my home and life in general, maybe some observation about something that strikes me as odd or of our time.

Now to the last few days of 2017 and onwards then to 2018 with all of its many surprises.

 

The controversy over a tree

Tags

Christmas tree, Piazza Venezia, Rome, Vatican

With the Christmas Season all manners of public Xmas trees are going up in various cities. Some cities go for the big display and a giant tree with loads of lights strategically placed as a symbol of the City, a kind of tourism promotion.

This week in Rome the giant Xmas trees have been unveiled, one at the central Train Station TERMINI by Piazza della Repubblica and another one in the centre of the City at Piazza Venezia. In years past the tree at Piazza Venezia which is located in front of the Altar to the nation was a natural tree, this year it is a metal contraption looking like a big cone. It did not take long for people to criticize the decision of the city, newspapers carried editorials and reporting. In Rome everything is about style and look, it is so important to the Romans.

Xmas tree at the entrance of the Termini Train Station, this one is liked by many, not a natural tree but looks more traditional.

Here is the natural tree at Piazza Venezia in 2016.

Here is the 2017 version of the Xmas tree at Piazza Venezia in front of the Altar to the Nation. It does look like a giant metallic snow cone. Few like it, not stylish and not traditional. After all this is the central piazza of the city, who could be so gauche as to make this choice. You can see how big it is if you look at the people. I really don’t like it much.

Now across the Tiber river on the Vatican hill in the Papal State of the Holy See in Piazza San Pietro in front of the basilica is the Roman Catholic Church’s version of their annual Christmas tree unveiled tonight. For the occasion the bells of St-Peter peal and the Papal band plays military marches, there is usually a pretty good crowd. The ceremony of the unveiling is presided by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, Governor of the City State of the Vatican.

The tree this year is a gift of the Archdiocese of Elk in Poland.

A more dramatic shot from the colonnade of Bernini looking into the Piazza.

Photos

Tags

PM, pope, Sistine Chapel, Trudeau, Vatican

Yesterday I got a newsletter from the Canadian Club Of Rome, we use to be members when we lived there, lots of nice activities for Canadians living in Italy.

This caught my eye, the Embassy of Canada to Italy not to be confused with the Embassy of Canada to the Holy See (Vatican), is participating in Gay Pride 2017.

Here is a promotional photo taken in the garden of the Chancery of the Embassy on Via Salaria with the staff and the Ambassador holding up the letter D.

They will have a float for the parade which starts at Piazza Repubblica and winds down into the centre of the City.

Today our Prime Minister met with the Pope at the Apostolic Palace for 42 minutes, one on one and many topics were discussed. Sophie Grégoire his spouse joined them for the photo afterwards in the Office of the Pope. The Prime Minister then walked around the Palace which in itself is a museum (not open to the public) and is attached to the famous Sistine Chapel built in 1473. Everyone was smiling on the photos and you could see a good rapport between the Pontiff and Trudeau. The Pope was invited by Trudeau to visit Canada.

Photo courtesy of the CBC. It is rare to see the chapel so empty, it was closed to allow the couple to visit quietly. The Prime Minister then gave his press conference in the beautiful and vast gardens of the Vatican. I once visited the chapel with just 10 other people on a private tour, it beats being in the chapel with the multitudes. Our guide explained the various figures and pointed out that God the Father stands above in the centre of the ceiling wearing a diaphanous pink like toga mooning us. Perhaps a little artistic liberty Michelangelo took with the topic while painting The Last Judgement ceiling between 1508-12, apparently Pope Julius II did not say a word about it. The Sistine Chapel also known as Cappella Magna took its name from Pope Sixtus IV.  The architects were Giovannino de Dolci and Baccio Pontelli.

During the reign of Sixtus IV, a team of Renaissance painters that included Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Roselli, created a series of frescos depicting the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ, offset by papal portraits above and trompe oeil drapery below. These paintings were completed in 1482, and on 15 August 1483 Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel for the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

The past week in the World

Tags

Free Trade, G7, NATO, pope, Sicily, Trump, Vatican

The German Magazine BILD quoted the German Chancellor Angela Merkel today in a Speech she gave in Bavaria at a political rally of her party CSU: We can’t rely on the US anymore. I have experienced this in the last days. We Europeans should take destiny in our own hands. ~@BILD

In the past week we have seen Donald Trump destroy 70 years of diplomatic relations and turn the USA into a laughingstock that no one can trust. He went to Saudi Arabia where he has business interests and made his speech again on terrorism thinking that the Arab leaders will fall for it. They are far more astute than he and saw right through his words. What he really wanted to do was sell weapons with no other objective in mind. Not understanding that singling out IRAN when there is already an agreement on Nuclear weapons is not wise and plays against US interests.

Then on to Israel and Palestine where under the guidance of his son-in-law Jared K. he gave full support to the right wing government of Netanyahu without a thought to the consequences. He believed he had left the Middle-East, it was not clear where he thought he was presently as if Israel was a continent. Trump wanted everyone to believe that he had the Peace solution in hand.  Again petulant and arrogant, ignorant of the issues of the region, unable to grasp the complexities. What Trump knows is what his prejudices have taught him and what he sees on television, he does not want to see further or ask questions.

Goes to see the Pope at the Vatican and the photos speak volumes, what a disaster again. The Pope gave him the document, encyclical letter Laudato Si, he wrote on the topic of care for one another, in light of the battle to repeal Obama care a rather pointed message. Visits to the Vatican are highly organized, choreograph affairs, the Holy See has 1400 years of diplomatic experience, Trump barges in as if he is at the OK Corral, his beliefs and attitude are highly insulting and in direct contradiction with social justice, human rights and the agenda of the Pontiff. Under the guidance of US diplomats Trump could have modified his message to be more appealing and avoid the worst but no, why bother, we are dealing with Archie Bunker here.

At Nato in Brussels, he lectured and insulted the other World Leaders, why? Trump like his supporters believes that the USA tells the World what to do and how high to jump. The new French President Macron said today that the handshake he gave Trump at their meeting  was tight on purpose, he does not like the man. So you can see the USA-France relationship cool and become difficult.

Trump’s attitude is that the USA saved the World and the World owes the USA everything. As one American tourist said on a trip we took on the Danube, the Germans need our money, we saved them from Hitler. Problem is Germany and the EU today are strong economies and the Second World War ended 70 years ago and the Cold War ended 28 years ago. The world has changed and Trump is unaware. To make the statement to other G7 members that he found investing in Europe difficult because the Europeans are too difficult when he is negotiating to build new golf courses, is hardly an intelligent economic argument. That Chancellor Angela Merkel has to explain to him that German car manufacturers create thousands of jobs in several plants in various US States and that Americans want to buy quality German products is not a bad thing, it is called the Free Market and Capitalism. It reminds me that the US Armed Forces have a special program to allow its personnel to buy at reduce cost tax free BMW cars. I am sure Trump still does not understand, he does not want to believe that we live in a interconnected world, there is no one way street. Europe is an important economic power of 500 million people, we are no longer in the 1950’s, John Wayne is dead.

The way he shoved his way to the front by pushing the Prime Minister of Montenegro, his refusal to walk with other leaders taking a golf cart instead, his condescending attitude and smug self satisfied smile on every picture is truly sad. His failure to re-affirm the NATO principle of mutual defence all the while demanding that countries pay up the 2% in defence spending because it is not fair to America. Excuse me but the 2% is a goal not an obligation and countries have until 2024 to reach it, so as the expression goes, Chill Donald just chill. Refusing to adhere to Principle 5 of the Alliance when the USA invoke it after September 11, again shows his complete ignorance of facts.

The last straw in Taormina, Sicily in the shadow of Mount Etna, could no one push him into the volcano and do the world a favour? Such Summits have a pre-determined agenda, Summits are highly scripted affairs and the final communiqué is always prepared in advance of the Summit. Only small changes are made before it is released at the end of the Summit. Everyone had agreed on the wording to re-affirm support for the Paris Agreement on the Environment and on other economic issues like Free Trade. Trump decides to say he will let everyone know by next week. Hello!!! Trump get with the program, this is not how Summit work. The G7 leaders said that the conversations were unsatisfactory, disappointing and no agreement was reached on anything, diplomatic speak, the translation this Summit with Trump was a total failure and he is an idiot.

It is now obvious that the USA cannot be trusted and Trump is an ignorant boor. So Angela Merkel is right in saying that the EU can no longer count or trust the USA. Canada is also now having to re-negotiate NAFTA, we cannot trust the USA, the current Administration has declared economic war on us and on Mexico. Canada and the EU must now look out for their own interests and count on ourselves and not the USA.

This last week the USA declined in the World, no longer leading, Trump is not interested in that role, going back to the isolationist policies of 1919 is pretty sad for a once such great country.

Architecture

Tags

Basilica, Cornelia, Italy, Rome, St-Peter, Vatican

There is a lot of beautiful architecture in this world, old and modern and then you get the crap that developers impose to make a fast buck by proposing buildings designed by a computer program. Here is one example of decorative architecture which followed a plan, an idea and involved the beauty of art in the Baroque Era.

View of the bronze baldacchino of the Papal Altar in St-Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. The bronze came from the coffered ceiling of the pantheon. Designed and built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) who was chief architect and decorator of the Basilica with his arch competitor Francesco Boromini.

Truly an impressive monument amongst many in St-Peter. The Basilica is probably the least used church in all of Christendom, used only for Papal Masses and State occasions at the Holy See. On most days it is seen by thousands of tourists and does have the feel of a museum.

The bronze and gilded baldachin was the first of Bernini’s works to combine sculpture and architecture and represents an important development in Baroque church interior design and furnishing. The canopy rests upon four helical columns each of which stands on a high marble plinth. The columns support a cornice which curves inwards in the middle of each side. Above this, four twice life size angels stand at the corners behind whom four large volutes rise up to a second smaller cornice which in turn supports the gilded cross on a sphere, a symbol of the world redeemed by Christianity.

The four columns are 20 metres or 66 feet high. From the cornice hangs a bronze semblance of the scalloped and tasselled border that typically trimmed the papal baldacchino. The structure is decorated with detailed motifs including heraldic emblems of the Barberini family (Pope Urban VIII was born Maffeo Barberini) such as bees and laurel leaves.

There are many things to see inside St-Peter’s Basilica but this one element is well worth looking at in detail. The other part of the Basilica is the ruins of the original St-Peter’s from the fourth century immediately beneath the Papal Altar and the Via Cornelia Roman cemetery which dates backs to Republican times. Entrance to that site is by reservation only on specific days. A fascinating place and the highlight of any visit to Rome.

Things or Topics unrelated

Tags

Canada., divorce, EIIR, Felice de Fredis, Hanover, Hungary, Laocöon, Mariage, show business, UK, USA, Vatican, Zsa Zsa Gabor

Today this photo was published of the Sovereign and the Heir. HM Queen Elizabeth II is 90 years old this year and HRH Prince Charles is 68 years old. If the Queen lives another 10 years, which is quite possible since her own mother HM Queen Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother lived to be 101, that would mean that Prince Charles would be 78 yrs old when he would ascend the Throne. He already assumes quite a few of the responsibility of the Sovereign and is delegated by his mother for many tasks. Queen Victoria quickly passed on to her own children many of her own responsibilities after the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1864, she was then 45 years old, she lived until 1901, but did not do very much, her state of mind not being the best, though the fiction was maintained by the British Government that all was well.

HM King George III (1738-1820) also relinquished all his duties to his son HRH Prince George, the Prince Regent in 1810, he would become in 1820 as King George IV. Though the Prime Minister controlled all the affairs of State.

This means that HRH Prince William who is now 34 years old could easily be in his sixties when he becomes King one day. His grandfather HRH Prince Philip is 95 years old. They do live into grand old age in the Royal Family, most be the good German genes from Hanover.

Now for something completely different, the New York Times today reported that the last of the Gabor sisters, Zsa Zsa died of heart failure.

Zsa Zsa Gabor was 99 years old, born in Hungary in 1917 perhaps, was Miss Hungary 1936, immigrated to the USA in 1939 and had been married 8 times. At a US Lawyer’s Convention she was the guest speaker and famously said that ”A girls best friend was not diamonds but a good lawyer”, she knew what she was talking about.

When my parents lived on East 70th street in Manhattan many years ago, my mother had met and knew Jolie Gabor the mother of the three Gabor sisters, Magda, Eva and Zsa Zsa. Jolie ran a Jewellery shop and daughter Magda was often there. Zsa Zsa had a talent for promoting herself and marrying rich men.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in 1939.

I also saw this photo this week of a tomb of a famous person, which you can see if you visit in Rome the Church of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli (St Mary at the Altar of Heaven) located on the site of the Temple of the Augurs, completed in the 12th Century. It stands on the Capitoline Hill where the most important temples of Rome once stood, like Jupiter best and great.

The church has many famous people buried there, as is the custom in most churches in Rome. This tomb is to the man who discovered in 1506 the famous classical sculpture of the Laocöon and his sons , which is now housed in the Vatican Museum.

The story of the Trojan Priest Laocöon and his sons is a classical one, this art work was praised in antiquity by Pliny the Elder. The group is life size and a very impressive sculpture, it originally stood in the Palace of Emperor Titus on the Palatine Hill.

The group has been “the prototypical icon of human agony” in Western art and unlike the agony often depicted in Christian art showing the Passion of Jesus and martyrs, this suffering has no redemptive power or reward. The story of Laocoön, a Trojan priest, came from the Greek Epic Cycle on the Trojan Wars. Laocoön was a priest of Poseidon who was killed with both his sons after attempting to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse by striking it with a spear. The two giant snakes are sent by the gods to punish him.

The group was unearthed in February 1506 in the vineyard of Felice De Fredis near Santa Maria Maggiore; informed of the fact, Pope Julius II, an enthusiastic classicist, sent for his court artists. Michelangelo was called to the site of the unearthing of the statue immediately after its discovery, along with the Florentine architect Giuliano da Sangallo.

Pope Julius acquired the group on March 23, giving De Fredis a job as a scribe as well as the customs revenues from one of the gates of Rome. By August the group was placed for public viewing in a niche in the wall of the brand new Belvedere Garden at the Vatican.

When Felice de Fredis died he was buried in the Church of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli and today when you visit the Church you can see his tomb.

This is what I like about those Roman Churches, so many interesting things to see and read about, knowing Latin does help a lot.

Puzzle solution

Tags

art., Bernini, Codazzi, Empire, Rome, Vatican

Ok so last week I gave a short version of the building of the new St-Peter’s Basilica, the one we know today which took place over 130 years (1500-1630). I had asked if readers could tell what was the difference between the painting below of Viviano Codazzi in 1630 when the basilica construction was completed and today.

Solution: Between 1630 and 1660 Gian Lorenzo Bernini decorated the church inside giving us the great Bronze Baldaquin over the Papal Altar and many other monuments inside the building, like the mausoleum of Pope Alexander VII. However on the outside he created the Piazza we see today with the colonnade forming half circles on either side and flanked by statues of Saints.

Today with the great Bernini Colonnade built on the order of Pope Alexander VII by Bernini to complete the design of the St-Peter’s Basilica. It is interesting to note that the architectural style mimics Roman Imperial style to show continuity between the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church, a point every Pope has made since the  time of Constantine in the 4th century.

A little puzzle in a picture

Tags

Alexander VII, Architecture, Basilica, Bernini, Boromini, Bramante, St-Peter, Urban VIII, Vatican

Look at this painting of the St-Peter’s Basilica in Rome. A very famous view of this famous church. However if you look closely you will notice that it is not as it appears today. Something is missing. In this painting dated 1630 we see the two bell towers as imagined by Pope Urban VIII. Bernini was put in charge of decorating the interior of the newly built basilica. Then a new Pope Alexander VII asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1658 to enhance the site as we see it today.

Construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica began in 1506, led by Pope Julius II with Donato Bramante on board as chief architect. Bramante designed the basilica and its dome up until 1513 when Pope Julius died; he was replaced, in succession, by Fra Giocondo, Guiliano da Sangallo, and Raphael. While Giocondo and Sangallo made their contributions, they both died in 1515, followed by Raphael a few years later in 1520.

Next in line to design for Saint Peter’s was Michelangelo, who famously said, “I undertake this only for the love of God and in honor of the Apostle.” Michelangelo decided to build upon Bramante’s early plans. His biggest contribution was the dome that was built atop the basilica in the year 1547. The dome was completed in 1590 and is still to this day the tallest dome in the world, spanning 448 feet. Everyone was quite pleased with the dome but some felt something was still missing, this something turned out to be the infamous bell towers of Saint Peter’s. Plans for bell towers atop St. Peter’s Basilica were drawn up during the reign of Paul V. Using Carlo Maderno’s designs, they had been completed up to the balustrade, the crown of the basilica’s facade. Then comes Pope Urban VIII who is eager to try his papacy’s hand at completing the facade and campanile of St. Peter’s Basilica.

On the February 5, 1629 Bernini assumed the title of chief architect to the basilica of St. Peter’s. “It was in this capacity as architect to the basilica that Bernini undertook the design and construction of his ill-fated campanili.” Commissioned under Pope Urban VIII, Bernini was instructed to design two great bell towers on each corner of Saint Peter’s Basilica with Michelangelo’s dome in the middle. An early indication of Urban VIII’s interest in the facade of St. Peters dates to sketches from 1626 by Francesco Borromini. Borromini was an architect, contemporary, and rival of Bernini. He was also a more experience architect.

Colliding pressure from Urban the VIII to carry out the project to fit his own vision and pressure from Borromini, to seize the project as his own created unstable conditions for the early development of plans for the towers. Pope Urban VIII dies in 1644. Innocent X’s ascension to the papal throne brought with it a general disfavour towards any remnants of the previous Pope and his family the Barberini.

Bernini, as it turned out was a constant reminder of the previous pope’s legacy, a reminder which Innocent X was looking for any excuse to remove. Borromini, the architect who had been working on St. Peter’s yet passed over as Architect under Urban VIII, could not help but lend his expertise on the subject of the problematic bell tower construction.

Borromini eventually convinced Pope Innocent X to take down the rest of the towers as the weight of them created cracks in the whole structure of the facade. The pope was not entirely confident in this decision and may have even had some regrets concerning the demolition of the towers. Remnants of their presence still haunt the facade of St. Peter’s in the shape of low bases that extend the length of the facade to the naked eye. The facade of St. Peter’s Basilica now has the oppressive feeling of excessive width. By looking at the building one senses there is something missing or wrong. Francesco Borromini looses his position with the death of Pope Innocent X.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini is called back by the new Pope Alexander VII who ascends the throne in 1655. He will continue to work for the Pope until his death realizing many other grandiose projects you can see today in Rome.

My question to you dear readers is, what did Bernini built beyond the now demolished bell towers which is such a great visual aspect of St-Peter’s basilica and piazza today? Do you know, can you tell?

Viviano Codazzi, St-Peter’s basilica 1630

Original St-Peter’s basilica from the 4th Century AD.

The original St-Peter’s Basilica around 319 AD built by Emperor Constantine. It will be demolished around 1500 to make way for the New St-Peter’s Basilica we see today with the new construction started in 1506 it will continue until 1660. On the image the Vatican Obelisk is on the left side of the old basilica. It was moved to the Centre of the St-Peter’s Piazza in the 16th century.

Sadly, little is known of its origins or which Pharaoh ordered its construction, but it was certainly quarried in Egypt and intended to be erected in Heliopolis. Sometime between 30 and 28 BC the red granite obelisk shows up in Alexandria under Augustus’s instructions to have it erected in the Julian Forum there.
It was Gaius Caligula who had the obelisk bought to Rome in 37 AD. It was the largest non-inscribed obelisk to leave Egypt, at 25.5 m high and weighing an estimated 326 tonnes. The obelisk was originally erected in gardens Caligula had inherited from his mother, and then on the central Spina of Caligula’s circus. Much of the circus is today under the basilica and square, the original spot for the obelisk is near the present-day sacristy, south of the basilica.
Because of the solid pedestal on which the obelisk was placed, it remained standing for 1,500 until it was moved to where it stands today in Saint Peter’s Square. It took thirteen months, between 1585 and 1586 to move and re-erect the obelisk. The idea to move it was that of Pope Sixtus V, as part of his desire to recover and re-erect all the obelisks lying then in the ruins of Rome.