No picture quite shows just how big this thing really is. Must have taken forever to build. Pretty neat but hard to photograph due to its color and the room is somewhat dim.
The wood was made in detail with many intaglios! I liked very mutch the clock made from glass that let light from the sun come into the church!A fantastic work of art!
There is so much to see in St. Peter's Basilica. Nonetheless, you must stop and pause to take in all the sites. This is one of the sites that you need to see and pause to take it all in. Once you do your appreciation will grow exponentially.
As told in a 1976 article by Phillip Fehl, legend has it that a niece of Pope Urban VIII was having a difficult pregnancy. Bernini showed her face on the Barberini coats of arms on the column bases of the baldacchino. Her face becomes contorted as if in labor. The final coat of arms replaces her face with that of a cherub, her baby. Whether truth or legend, nothing could detract from the magnificence of the baldacchino.
When you first enter St. Peter's Basilica, you are met with the long nave of the church and the massive culmination under the dome that is Bernini's Baldacchino. As you approach, it just seems to get larger and larger and larger. It absolutely towers over everything in the Basilica and is clearly the main focal point to which all roads lead. The artwork that decorates it is absolutely stunning. The detail with which it was crafted is magnificent. In a building full of 'Bernini's Masterpieces,' this is truly his finest work, quite possibly in his entire career. Between St. Peter's Square and the Baldacchino and everything else you'll see by Bernini at the Vatican, it is easy to see why many scholars regard him as one of the most underappreciated artists of his time. Many want to talk about Michelangelo (understandably so, because Michelangelo really is the greatest artist of all time), Leonardo, Raphael, but Bernini is largely forgotten. But once you experience his works firsthand, you will know the name forever.
When you look around the basilica take the time to admire the work of Bernini. The bronze structure is so detailed and beautiful and creates a sense of majesty. The bronze was pilfered from the Pantheon.
To visit St Peter Basilica with guided tour is an advantage to skip the line and given the priority to see the chair of St Peter and his sarphagus under the altar for closer view. The information given by tour guide is well worth the history of Roman Catholic and arts of wall paintings ,sculpture and the whole basilica. One day tour is enough.
This is a beautiful shrine / chapel in the Vatican city it just makes it all fit together so well it really belongs in this awsome settimng
Beautiful shrine to St. Peter centered under the large dome of the Basilica. The work by Bernini is magnificent.
It;s hard to describe how large it is - from a larger distance it looks quite normal, since the basilica is so long. But when standing next to it you can see how large and bueatifully-sculpted it is. One of the most unique works at that place.