Description
The construction of St. Peter's Basilica was begun in 1506 under Pope Julius II and ended in 1626, during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII. However, this is a reconstruction, since the same site, before the current basilica, it rose another dating from the fourth century, built by the emperor Constantine I in the place where you opened the Circus of Nero and where the tradition it that St. Peter, an apostle of Jesus and the first pope of Christianity, was buried after his crucifixion. Today we can only imagine the grandeur of this building, captured only in certain artistic works: the system, enriched over the centuries with valuable works of art, was divided into five aisles and had similarities with that of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the walls.
was under Pope Nicholas V (1447 - 1455) that the basilica of Constantine, who survived the looting and fires caused by the city after the fall of the Roman Empire, was involved in a substantial work restructuring. With the death of this work was interrupted and were taken by Julius II, however, in full Renaissance atmosphere, decreed the construction of a huge new basilica.
The work was entrusted to Donato Bramante, including the most important architects who proposed a revolutionary of a Greek cross, characterized by a large hemispherical dome at the center of the complex and inspired by the Pantheon. The search for the perfect balance between the parties, took the same Bramante even to omit the indication of the high altar, a clear sign that the ideals of the Renaissance were accrued even within the Papal State.
The construction of the new basilica would in fact represented the grandest application of theoretical studies undertaken by Leonardo da Vinci for a central plan churches, studies clearly inspired by the octagonal tribune of the cathedral of Florence.
However, the death of Pope Julius II (1513), which was followed by that of the architect (1514), caused severe delays to the construction site, where it already had been raised to support the four pillars of the dome.
After Sangallo, died in 1546, took over the direction of the work Michelangelo Buonarroti , who, wanting to emphasize more strongly the impact of the dome, he returned to the central plan of the original project
