St Peters Basilica

St Peter's Basilica is perhaps the most beautiful church I have ever been in. It's size is astounding. There are so many side altars and chapels. Numerous popes have been buried here. St Peter, the first Pope (upon this Rock, I will build my church) is buried beneath the main altar.

The entrance doors are large, as one might expect. There is a set of special doors, more ornate than any other, and these are called the Jubilee doors They are only opened during the Jubilee year celebration, which occurs every 25 years.

Looking down the center aisle to the main altar.

And a closer view

Don't you just love the ray of sun shining through the side window.

The most famous statue is Michelangelo Buonarroti's Pieta. In 1972, someone took a hammer to it and so it is now protected, placed behind plexiglass and roped off so that visitors can not get too close. My photo does not do justice to this work. To me one of the most amazing things is that Michelangelo was only 22 when he began this piece. It was completed within a year.

As with every church I saw in Rome, the beauty lies in all of the details.

Floors...

Columns...

 












Statuary...

There is so much to see.