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Whether you’re Catholic or not, it’s hard to argue with the fact that St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is an amazing feat of architecture and art. The cornerstone for this sanctified structure was laid on April 18, 1506, so its birthday is just around the corner. In case you’re counting, that’s 503 candles on the cake. To celebrate, here are a few facts about the House that Peter Built (according to Catholic tradition, anyway).
1. The current Basilica is actually St. Peter’s Basilica #2. Old Saint Peter’s Basilica (OSPB, for future reference) was built on the orders of Constantine I sometime around 324. It was at OSPB that Charlemagne was crowned the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in on Christmas Day in 800. Not much of the original Basilica remains, but a piece of a mosaic from the eighth century can still be found at Santa Maria in Cosmedin, and eight of the original columns from the old altar were moved to the new (current) St. Peter’s. Somewhat unrelated trivia: Santa Maria in Cosmedin is also where the Mouth of Truth is.
2. There are 100+ tombs at St. Peter’s, which includes 91 popes, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II and Swedish Queen Christina who abdicated the throne to convert to Catholicism.
3. Michelangelo’s Pietà is located at St. Peter’s and has been the source of much abuse over the years. First of all, four of her fingers broke off sometime in the 1700s as the statue was moved throughout the Basilica. They were repaired in 1736. But the worst incident was in 1972 when a geologist named Laszlo Toth ran into the Basilica and attacked the nearly 500-year-old statue with a geologist’s hammer. Yelling “I am Jesus Christ,” he took Mary’s arm completely off from the elbow down, chipped a chunk out of her nose and damaged one of her eyelids. Since its restoration from the attack, the Pietà has been housed in a case of bulletproof acrylic glass. You can still see where she was damaged if you look closely. The Pietà is also the only work Michelangelo ever signed – the story is that he heard someone talking about this great statue that Cristoforo Solari had created. It was Michelangelo’s statue, of course, and in a fit of pride, he went and added his signature to Mary’s sash. He later regretted it and said he would never sign anything ever again.
4. There’s a door that is only opened for holy years – it’s called, appropriately, the Holy Door. They’re only opened in certain years – Jubilee years – and people who pass through them receive a plenary indulgence. A better Catholic than I can explain what a plenary indulgence is.
5. The top of the colonnade in the square outside contains 140 statues of various saints. That’s a lot of carving, folks. But they were completed by many artists over a period of 41 years – from 1662 to 1703. Not all of the artists’ names were recorded, but the ones that were (and which statue they created) can be found here.
6. Bernini finished the 96-foot-tall baldacchino (the canopy-like thing over the altar) in 1633 and it’s the epitome of opulence, which it was heavily criticized for at the time. It’s said that the bronze that makes up the baldacchino was taken from the roof of the Pantheon, which is another thing Italians weren’t too thrilled about.
7. Climbing to the top of Michelangelo’s dome will add 491 stairs to your exercise log. And it’s a scary climb – in some spots, the “staircase” is so narrow there’s no room for railings, so there’s a rope that runs down the middle for you to hold on to. And sometimes, it’s both narrow and incredibly slanted. Not good for claustrophobics. You don’t have to climb the whole thing, though – taking an elevator will save you about 171 stairs.
8. The Scavi is the Vatican Necropolis. Not the grotto – the grotto is the place where a lot of Popes are now buried, including JPII. The Scavi is only available by appointment, and there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to why the Vatican grants some requests and denies others. Only about 200 people a day are admitted into the Scavi, which is where the tomb of St. Peter supposedly resides. I mean, they think it’s St. Peter. Exactly 134 bone fragments were found in a niche with the phrase “Petros eni,” which means “Peter is here” in Greek. Carbon dating has found that they are the remains of a 60 to 70-year-old man from the second century. The tour guide also says that no pieces of bone found were determined to be feet bones. Some stories say that after Peter was crucified upside down, he was removed from his cross very quickly – just chopped off at the ankles instead of properly removed. So… maybe…? Anyway, that’s the Vatican’s story, and they’re sticking to it.
9. There’s a bronze statue of St. Peter thought to have been made by Arnolfo di Cambio in the 13th century, although that’s something that’s often disputed by art historians and scholars who think it was cast as early as the fifth century. Either way, this St. Peter has seen a lot of love – it’s tradition for people to kiss or rub his foot when they pass by. You can tell just how many people have done it by the fact that his right toes have worn into a completely smooth surface, whereas his left toes are still individual digits.
10. I seem to remember this enduring rumor that there were portraits of every Pope in gilded frames somewhere at St. Peter’s – including empty frames for the upcoming Popes. How the Vatican knew how many empty frames to include was always a mystery, and so the speculation began that they knew the apocalypse was going to happen during a certain Pope’s reign and therefore only provided the exact number of empty portrait frames that would be needed through that time frame. Silly, I know. But I can’t find mention of this urban legend anywhere, not even Snopes! Did I completely make it up? Has someone else heard of it? Tell me I’m not losing it. Update: see the comments for an explanation. I know our _flossers would come through!!
On that note, I’m out for a few days. I posted a couple months ago about this road trip we’re taking and it’s time to finally make good on that post. If you’re interested, I will probably document the trip in real time on Twitter just out of sheer boredom – I imagine 24 hours in a car (48 round trip) is going to lead to desperate measures to entertain myself. Otherwise, I’ll definitely be doing an Armchair Field Trip or two about it when I get back.
I leave you in the capable hands of Jason English and Adrienne Crezo. See you Tuesday!
Comments (22)
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According to Catholic theology, while a redeemed person escapes eternal damnation, he or she must still pay a price for the sins committed during life through finite punishment in Purgatory. After being purified of this life’s sins, the person is admitted into heaven and the presence of God. A plenary indulguence reduces the amount of time a person must spend in Purgatory, usually by a number of days specifically mentioned in the terms of the indulgence.
posted by Zach on 4-7-2009 at 3:59 pm
How WEIRD… two days before my husband and I are to have our honeymoon in Rome where our B&B is DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET from the front gate to the Vatican Museum, there pops up a Quick 10 on St. Pete’s Basilica! Strange things are afoot at the Circle K, Bill…
posted by Kate on 4-7-2009 at 4:03 pm
The Catholic Encyclopedia defines a plenary indulgence as “the remission of the entire temporal punishment due to sin so that no further expiation is required in Purgatory.” It also says that to get such an indulgence, “confession and Communion are usually required.”
(By the way, I’m not claiming to be a better Catholic than Stacy.)
posted by Paul on 4-7-2009 at 4:06 pm
The pictures of the popes, with empty spots for future popes, is located along the top of the walls of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, not St. Peter’s.
posted by Denis on 4-7-2009 at 4:16 pm
I did the Scavi tour during my once-in-a-lifetime (so far) trip to Italy a couple of years ago, and it was absolutely wonderful. Even for a respectful non-Catholic like me, it was fascinating from a historical and archeological perspective. (Not for the very claustrophobic, though….)
posted by Betsy on 4-7-2009 at 4:25 pm
I visited the Scavi when I was in Rome two years ago, and man is that place humid and cramped… I think some of the most interesting artifacts from the visit were the funeral “homes” for the ancient Romans before the rise of Christianity, and how short everyone used to be! We felt like giants :)
posted by kurisu on 4-7-2009 at 4:27 pm
Woah, I totally saw the Scavi when I was there in 1998. They told us we were special for getting to see it, but I thought they just told everyone that. Cool! Also, I don’t know if you really get an indulgence just for walking through the door. Maybe a special blessing. But indulgences aren’t really practiced anymore, are they? If so, I’m even happier that I left the church years ago.
posted by Shasta on 4-7-2009 at 4:28 pm
There is a church in Rome that has those empty frames for papal portriats, but I don’t think it’s St. Peter’s. I know I went to the church that does have them when I studied in Rome last summer, but I can’t remember which one it was. This is going to bug me for days now…
posted by Kaite on 4-7-2009 at 4:48 pm
Look for “Prophecy of the Popes” in wikipedia
posted by rilo90 on 4-7-2009 at 4:50 pm
Indulgences are indeed still practiced in the Church of Rome. While small indulgences are pretty easy to come by, plenary indulgences, which completely clear away one’s sentence in Purgatory, are only granted in spectacular circumstances. The most famous one is the aforementioned Jubilee Year indulgence. The focus in not on the trivial act of walking through a certain door on a certain year, but on the ~Jubilee Year.~ It is called “The Year of the Lord’s Favor” as set out in the Old Testament, in which all debts were cancelled and everyone had a clean slate. The current Jubliee Years (the most recent was in 2000) carries on by cancelling out our debts to Purgatory and giving us a clean start. As an Episcopalian, I hardly support the indulgence industry, but I do understand the signifigance of the “Fresh Start” offered throught the Jubilee Year indulgence.
posted by Zach on 4-7-2009 at 4:52 pm
In item 10, the prophesy you refer to is the Prophesy of St. Malachy or the Prophesy of the Popes. The short version is that Malachy visited the pope in the 1100’s. During his visit, he had a vision of all the remaining “future popes”. According to his vision, there would be 112 “future popes” before the Apocalypse. The current pope, Benedict XVI, is number 111 on St. Malachy’s list….
posted by Chris on 4-7-2009 at 5:05 pm
To Shasta: Indulgences are still practiced, but they aren’t SOLD. That’s why people still have iffy memories of them.
I remember when I was studying abroad in Italy we learned about how the 4 major basilicas in Rome all had Holy Doors (I think we just called them “Jubilee doors”). I was 4 years too late-the most recent year was 2000. Oh well.
posted by catherine ann on 4-7-2009 at 5:05 pm
I went there during Spring Break!
You’re not allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel.
posted by Ellie on 4-7-2009 at 5:34 pm
The prophecy of popes is St. Malachy’s Prophecy. Check the link on my name to hit the Catholic Pages description and the prophecy itself.
posted by Carrie Belle on 4-7-2009 at 5:34 pm
Indulgences very recently came back into practice. These are probably not like the indulgences a lot of people learned about because you can no longer pay money for an indulgence. Well, you were never supposed to… but it happened… a lot.
posted by Brad on 4-7-2009 at 5:46 pm
I also visited the scavi a few years ago. I came across the info by accident when researching my trip – it was not included in any travel book I saw. My daughter and a couple friends ordered tickets on line and had no problem getting them. It was definitely the best thing we did in Rome and Rome is full of amazing things! We also did the climb to the roof – a tradition for my daughter and me to climb church domes and bell towers. Great view of St Peters square and all of Vatican City!!
posted by Lisa on 4-7-2009 at 7:52 pm
I went through all four Jubilee doors at the Basilicas of Rome during the 2000 Jubilee. I was in town for World Youth Day (a giant Mass with about one million people presided over by the Pope). Each basilica (St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s outside the walls, St. Maria Maggiore and St. John Lateran) had one. So basically, all the little sins I had committed through the age of 19 were wiped away.
As far as the “get our jail free card” idea of indulgences, we took our walks through the Jubilee doors seriously. The entire trip was this incredible spiritual pilgrimage — I earned those walks through the doors.
posted by Lindsey on 4-7-2009 at 11:46 pm
I have a question about St Peter’s. I visited it over 12 years ago and I’m not sure if this is right or whether I dreamed the whole morbid affair, but could someone tell me if there really is a flying cloaked skeleton coming out of a wall somewhere in the back of the cathedral over a door?
If so, What the heck does that mean?
It was been picking my brain since I saw it and I would really like to find out the truth.
Many thanks.
posted by Jennifer on 4-8-2009 at 8:09 am
There’s this wicked cool statue inside the Vatican kind of across from the famous St. Peter one. And it really has nothing to do with the actual statue that makes it amazing.
I believe the statue is of Mary, doing what, I cannot remember. But she is standing on top of this wave of marble. Attached to the marble is this bronze cast skeleton (sans the head) with angel wings holding a lantern!
posted by FrLemur on 4-8-2009 at 11:30 am
The skeleton coming out from under drapery is the tomb of Alexander VII, by Bernini. The skeleton is Death and the thing in his hand is an hourglass. If you click on my name it’s a link to a Flickr page of images of the sculpture.
The women on the left is Charity and the woman on the right is Truth. I forget who the women in the back are, though I think one is Justice.
posted by Abram on 4-8-2009 at 12:35 pm
How wild! I just got back from Rome less than two weeks ago. Visiting St. Peter’s was definitely a highlight… it seriously made me wish my eyes were bigger so I could take in more.
However, it did make my little Catholic heart sad that with all the people hungry in the world, the leaders of the Church have so much wealth and no desire to spread it around.
posted by JMac on 4-8-2009 at 3:51 pm
[...] Above: a neat bird’s eye view of Rome from the Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. This church, inside Vatican City, is the largest church ever constructed. For 10 quick interesting facts on the Basilica, check out what Mental Floss has to say [...]
posted by Basilica | Smartkit Puzzles and Brain Teasers on 7-15-2009 at 11:09 pm