St. Peter's Square

Saint Peter's Square.

St. Peter's Square (Italian: Piazza San Pietro [ˈpjattsa sam ˈpjɛːtro], Latin: Forum Sancti Petri) is a large plaza in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, Rome. The Pope frequently addresses pilgrims gathered in the square. It is named after Saint Peter.

At the centre of the square is an ancient Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1586. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later A granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain designed by Carlo Maderno in 1613.

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St. Peter's Square within Vatican City

St. Peter's Square Media

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  Evening aerial view of the piazza and basilica

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  Fresco of St. Peter's Square, c. 1587, before the dome of the new St. Peter's Basilica or the façade had been built

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  St. Peter's Square colonnades

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  A reconstruction of Old Saint Peter's in 1450; at left is the obelisk in its previous location.

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  Piazza San Pietro in Vaticano.

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  An early interpretation of the relative location of the circus and obelisk, including the medieval and current basilicas

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  One possible modern interpretation

Further reading

• Hibbert, Christopher, 1985, Rome: The biography of a city, London, Penguin.
• Norwich, John Julius, ed. 1975 Great Architecture of the World ISBN 0-394-49887-9
• Touring Club Italiano, Roma e Dintorni

Other websites

External video

Bernini's St. Peter's Square, Smarthistory

• stpetersbasilica.info Pages for all 140 Colonnade Saints
• Great Buildings On-line: Piazza of St. Peter's
• Roberto Piperno, "Piazza di S. Pietro": engravings by Vasi
• Mary Ann Sullivan, "St Peter's Piazza, Vatican City"
• Obeliscus Vaticanus LacusCurtius.com, The Vatican Obelisk, retrieved September 4, 2006
• The legend of the cry of Bresca Legendary Rome
• Rome, Nova Online, Mysteries of the Nile, A World of Obelisks: Rome pbs.org, retrieved September 4, 2006
• St. Peter's Square, Bernini's Fountain