St. Peter's Square
plaza in Vatican City
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.
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Rome%2C_Vatican%2C_Italy%2C_Saint_Peter%27s_Square_as_seen_from_Michelangelo_dome.jpg/220px-Rome%2C_Vatican%2C_Italy%2C_Saint_Peter%27s_Square_as_seen_from_Michelangelo_dome.jpg)
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[1][2] A granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain designed by Carlo Maderno in 1613.
St. Peter's Square within Vatican City
References
changeFurther reading
change- 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
changeWikimedia Commons has media related to Piazza San Pietro.
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