07_23_09_St Peter's Square

Saint Peter’s Square

Saint Peter’s Square was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini beginning in 1656 under the orders of Pope Alexander VII. The square, where many people gather to see and be blessed by the Pope, has an elliptical center enclosed by colonnades and serves as the entrance to St. Peter’s Basilica. In Bernini’s own words the elliptical center encloses visitors with, “the maternal arms of Mother Church.” At the center of the ellipse is a 13th century BC red granite Egyptian obelisk, moved to Rome by Emperor Caligula. It was then transferred to its current location in 1586 by Domenico Fontana. There are two granite fountains, one on each side of the obelisk. The first was built by Carlo Maderno and the second was added by Bernini in 1675 to make them seem like part of the foci of the ellipse. The square itself is enclosed by two colonnades around the perimeter. The colonnades are comprised of 60 feet tall Doric columns, four rows deep. On top of the colonnades are 140 over life-sized sculptures of saints. There are two points, halfway between the fountains and obelisk, marked by stone circles where if you stand and look up at the colonnades they are perfectly symmetrical. From this point you can only see the first row of the columns; the other three are hidden behind. I chose to write about St. Peter’s Square because of its architectural design. When visiting the square and standing on the stone circles I was in awe at the prefect symmetry Bernini achieved. I was amazed that he was able to accomplish this without the technology we have today. To me the best part of the square is when I stand on the circles and the rows of columns disappear behind the first.
Shaine Nudel, Survey of Art and Architecture, University of Florida