St Peter’s Basilica | Monument of Urban VIII in Rome. Official Vatican Museums Tours Tomb of the Pope Barberini in St. Peter's Basilica Private Tours in Rome.
St Peter’s Basilica Monument of Urban VIII in Rome | Official Vatican Museums Tours Tomb of Urban VIII, of the Barberini Family. Vatican Private Tours in Rome.
In St. Peter’s Basilica, the Tomb of Urban VIII of the Barberini Family. The pope consecrated the present church in 1626 and destroyed the Pantheon’s roof. To cast cannons for the defense of the church. The monument is the best among the works of Bernini in this church; the figure of the Pope with his hands outstretched, in the act of blessing, was imitated by Canova in the figure of Clement XIV in the church of SS—apostles in Rome.
Below the Pope are two statues of Charity and Justice and a skeleton intent on inscribing the Pope’s name in the death list.
On the left is the:
Monument of Paul III in St Peter’s Basilica – Rome.
The monument of Paul III, of the Farnese Family (1534-1549), a Roman Pope who approved the order of the Jesuits and was the first pope born in Rome since Martin V. The tomb, considered to be one of the most important monuments in St Peter’s, is the work of Guglielmo Della Porta, a pupil of Michelangelo.
The latter is said to have given the design. The position of the two allegorical figures of Prudence and Justice recalls the tomb of the Medici in Florence. The figure of Justice on the left is said to be the portrait of Giulia Farnese, the pope’s sister; the one on the right is that of Giovanna Gaetani, the pope’s mother.
St. Peter’s Basilica. The statue of Justice, once entirely nude, was covered up by a whitewashed bronze drapery. In the marble slabs around the tribune are inscribed the names of all the bishops and cardinals who accepted the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, proclaimed here by Pius IX in 1854. In the small transept on the right of the tribune, we see the:
St. Peter’s Basilica | Monument of Alexander VIII in St. Peter’s Basilica – Rome.
Monument of Alexander VIII, of the Ottoboni, a Venetian family.
Opposite the mosaic of Peter Healing the lame-born man from an original by Mancini.
In St. Peter’s Basilica, next comes, on the right, the altar of St. Leo the Great, above which is the Bas-relief. The flight of Attila is said to be the largest ever executed in marble and the masterpiece of Algardi (1583-1654); it represents the most critical events in the pope’s life or the liberation of Rome from the invasion of Attila (Flagellum Dei). Leo the Great, a noble figure, is represented when he goes to meet Attila in the vicinity of the Po River, where the pope, as the tradition says, shows the barbarian king the sudden apparition of the two Apostles, Peter and Paul, persuaded him to give up the invasion of Rome. Official Rome Tour Guide, Rome Walking Tours.
The remains of the Pope are under the altar, below the bas-reliefs.
The next altar, called the “Colonna,” derives its name from an image of the Virgin and Child painted on a column of the old church. Under the Altar, in an early Christian sarcophagus, the popes Leo III and Leo IV’s remains are preserved.
A little further, on the right, is the:
St. Peter’s Basilica | Monument of Alexander VII of the Chigi family. This monument is of particular interest to me, as is the last work of Bernini, which marks the end of the remarkable career of the famous sculptor, painter, and architect. This artist, among other essential works, had the great merit of not only building the large entrance of St. Peter’s Square and the Royal Staircase of the Vatican but also designing nearly all the internal decoration of the church. In the monument’s center, the pope is represented as kneeling on a beautiful jasper curtain, which a bronze skeleton raises, showing the pontiff as an hourglass, marking his last hour. The allegorical figures represent Prudence and Justice behind and Charity and Truth in front.
Opposite the tomb is the last mosaic, made in the Vatican factory for this church, representing:
The Apparition of the Saviour to S. Mary Alacoque, the French saint who instituted the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Turning to the right, we reach the end of the:
St. Peter’s Basilica left transept in the central altar of which is a mosaic from an original by Guido Reni, representing the crucifixion of St Peter’s head downwards and marking the spot where the cross of the apostle is said to have been erected in the circus of Nero.
Under this altar are the mortal remains of 2 apostles, Simon and Juda Taddeus. Together with S. Peters (resting under the high altar and the other five apostles buried in various city churches), they form part of the most precious heritage of Christian Rome. Jacob and Philip rest in the church of the Holy Apostles, the remaining two in their respective churches erected in their honor: St. Paul outside the walls and St. Bartholomew on the Tiber island.
Distributed around the transept (St. Peter’s Basilica) are confessionals for every Christian language, where physicians of the soul of different nationalities have, for centuries, dispensed to the sons of every continent words of consolation, peace, and remission; by the promise which shines, around the drum of the dome: Et Tibi Dabo Claves Regni Caelorum.
St. Peter’s Basilica – Returning to the canopy, we see the decorations around the Berninian church, with many admirers and critics. The latter accuse the great architect of having spoiled the pure, simple lines of the architecture of Bramante and Michelangelo with a profusion of useless ornaments. We must not forget, however, that the building was decorated when the church ceremonies had reached the culminating point in pompous splendor and that the decoration had to be kept and serve as a background for the pompous ceremonies of the church.
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