page_title: St. Peter's Basilica
section_title: Michelangelo
hierarchical_section_title: St. Peter's Basilica / Architecture / One plan after another / Michelangelo
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Peter's Basilica in Rome seen from the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo. Deutsch: Petersdom in Rom, gesehen vom Dach der Engelsburg
context_page_description: St. Peter's Basilica, which is called "Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano" in Italian, is a large church in the Vatican City, in Rome, Italy. It is often called "the greatest church in Christendom". In Catholic tradition, St. Peter's Basilica is believed to be the burial place of Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. It is believed that Saint Peter was the first Bishop of Rome.
  Although the Bible does not say that the apostle Peter went to Rome, other Roman Christians who were alive in the 1st century AD have written about him. Catholics believe that after Peter was killed, his body was buried in a cemetery where the basilica now stands. A tomb has been found below the altar of the basilica, and there were some bones, but no-one can say for certain if they are the bones of St. Peter.
  A church was built here in the 4th century AD. The building that stands here now was begun on April 18, 1506 and was finished in 1626. Many Popes have been buried there. Although many people think St. Peter's is a cathedral, it is not, because it does not have a bishop. The pope is the Bishop of Rome, and although he usually uses St.
context_section_description: On January 1st, 1547 in the reign of Pope Paul III, Michelangelo, who was already over 70, became the architect of St. Peter's. He is the main designer of the building as it stands today. Michelangelo died before the job was finished, but by that time, he had got the construction up to a point where other people could get it finished. Michelangelo had already done a lot of work for the popes, carving figures for the tomb of Pope Julius II, painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which took five years, and the enormous fresco the "Last Judgement" on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo found the popes and the cardinals very difficult to work with. When Pope Paul asked him to be the new architect for St. Peter's, Michelangelo did not want the job. In fact, Pope Paul did not really want Michelangelo. But his first choice, Giulio Romano, died suddenly. Michelangelo told the pope that he would only do the job, if he could do it in whatever way he thought was best.
  Michelangelo wrote:
  "I am only doing this for the love of God and to honour of the Apostle."
  When Michelangelo took over a building site in 1547, the nave of the old basilica was still standing and in use. There were four of the most enormous piers in the world standing where the western part of the old basilica had been. The building work had stopped for so long that weeds and bushes were growing out between the stones of the unfinished building as if it was a cliff. Michelangelo looked at all the plans that had been drawn by some of the greatest architects and engineers of the 16th century. He knew he could do whatever he liked but he had respect for the other designers, especially Bramante. He knew that he was expected to make a design that would be the symbol of the city of Rome, in the same way as Brunelleschi's dome was the symbol of Florence where Michelangelo had lived as a young man. He went back to the Greek Cross idea and re-drew Bramante's plan, making every part of it much stronger and simpler. It had to be strong enough to support the tallest dome in the world.
  Michelangelo was a sculptor. When he was going to carve something, he would start by making a clay model. Michelangelo could imagine the building like a lump of clay. What if the building could be pushed and pulled and squeezed? If you could squeeze the corners in, then other bits would bulge out. If you could put your hands around the whole building and squeeze it, then the dome would bulge upwards. The idea of imagining buildings as bendy and bulgy was a completely new one. But other artists like Gianlorenzo Bernini looked at what Michelangelo did at St. Peter's and used this clever new idea in their own work. This is called the Baroque style.
  As it stands today, the Greek Cross part of the basilica is Michelangelo's design and the nave, which was added later, is by Carlo Maderna. Comparing Michelangelo's plan with Raphael's plan shows that while the outside-line of Raphael's plan has clear square and round shapes, the outside-line in Michelangelo's plan has lots of changes of direction. That is the way it was built. All around the outside of the building are enormous "pilasters" (which are like giant columns stuck on the building). Almost every pilaster is set at a different angle to the next one as if the flat walls had been folded up. Right around the top of the building is a band called the "cornice". A "cornice" is usually quite flat, but because of all the changes of direction, this cornice ripples like a giant piece of ribbon, tied around the outside of the building. The art historian Helen Gardner wrote that it looked as of the whole building was being held together from top to bottom.
caption: St. Peter's Basilica seen from Castel Sant' Angelo
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