Editing St. Peter's Basilica (section)

==Architecture==
===Successive plans=== 
Pope Julius's scheme for the grandest building in Christendom<ref name=BF>{{Harvnb|Fletcher|1921}}</ref> was the subject of a competition for which a number of entries remain intact in the [[Uffizi Gallery]], Florence. It was the design of [[Donato Bramante]] that was selected, and for which the foundation stone was laid in 1506. This plan was in the form of an enormous [[Greek cross]] with a dome inspired by that of the huge circular Roman temple, the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]].<ref name=BF/> The main difference between Bramante's design and that of the Pantheon is that where the dome of the Pantheon is supported by a continuous wall, that of the new basilica was to be supported only on four large piers. This feature was maintained in the ultimate design. Bramante's dome was to be surmounted by a [[Roof lantern|lantern]] with its own small dome but otherwise very similar in form to the Early Renaissance lantern of [[Florence Cathedral]] designed for [[Filippo Brunelleschi|Brunelleschi]]'s dome by [[Michelozzo]].<ref name=Hartt/>

Bramante had envisioned that the central dome would be surrounded by four lower domes at the diagonal axes. The equal [[chancel]], nave and transept arms were each to be of two bays ending in an apse. At each corner of the building was to stand a tower, so that the overall plan was square, with the apses projecting at the cardinal points. Each apse had two large radial buttresses, which squared off its semi-circular shape.<ref>Bramante's plan, {{Harvnb|Gardner|Kleiner|Mamiya|2005|p=458}}</ref>

When Pope Julius died in 1513, Bramante was replaced with [[Giuliano da Sangallo]] and [[Giovanni Giocondo|Fra Giocondo]], who both died in 1515 (Bramante himself having died the previous year). [[Raphael]] was confirmed as the architect of St. Peter's on 1 August 1514.<ref>{{cite book |last=Golzio |first=Vincenzo |title=The Complete Work of Raphael |date=1969 |publisher=Reynal and Co., [[William Morrow and Company]] |location=New York |pages=593–594}}</ref> The main change in his plan is the nave of five bays, with a row of complex apsidal chapels off the aisles on either side. Raphael's plan for the chancel and transepts made the squareness of the exterior walls more definite by reducing the size of the towers, and the semi-circular apses more clearly defined by encircling each with an ambulatory.<ref>Raphael's plan, {{Harvnb|Fletcher|1921|p=586}}</ref>

In 1520 Raphael also died, aged 37, and his successor [[Baldassare Peruzzi]] maintained changes that Raphael had proposed to the internal arrangement of the three main apses, but otherwise reverted to the Greek cross plan and other features of Bramante.<ref>Peruzzi's plan, {{Harvnb|Fletcher|1921|p=586}}</ref> This plan did not go ahead because of various difficulties of both Church and state. In 1527 Rome was sacked and plundered by [[Emperor Charles V]]. Peruzzi died in 1536 without his plan being realized.<ref name=BF/>

At this point [[Antonio da Sangallo the Younger]] submitted a plan which combines features of Peruzzi, Raphael and Bramante in its design and extends the building into a short nave with a wide façade and portico of dynamic projection. His proposal for the dome was much more elaborate in both structure and decoration than that of Bramante and included ribs on the exterior. Like Bramante, Sangallo proposed that the dome be surmounted by a lantern which he redesigned to a larger and much more elaborate form.<ref name="Fletcher 1996 p=722">Sangallo's plan, {{Harvnb|Fletcher|1921|p=586}}</ref> Sangallo's main practical contribution was to strengthen Bramante's piers, which had begun to crack.<ref name=JL-M/>

On 1 January 1547, in the reign of Pope Paul III, Michelangelo, then in his seventies, succeeded Sangallo the Younger as "Capomaestro", the superintendent of the building program at St Peter's.<ref>{{Harvnb|Goldscheider|1996}}</ref> He is to be regarded as the principal designer of a large part of the building as it stands today, and as having brought the construction to a point where it could be carried through. He did not take on the job with pleasure; it was forced upon him by Pope Paul, frustrated at the death of his chosen candidate, [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]] and the refusal of [[Jacopo Sansovino]] to leave [[Venice]]. Michelangelo wrote, "I undertake this only for the love of God and in honour of the Apostle". He insisted that he should be given a free hand to achieve the ultimate aim by whatever means he saw fit.<ref name=JL-M>{{Harvnb|Lees-Milne|1967}}</ref> 

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:SaintPierre.svg|upright|Bramante's plan|alt=This is plan 1 of 3. The plan is based on a square, superimposed on a cross with arms of equal length. The cross makes the main sections of the church building: nave and chancel crossed by the transepts, with a circular dome over the crossing. There are four smaller domes, one in each corner of the square. The arms of the cross project beyond the square.
File:L’Architecture de la Renaissance - Fig. 8.PNG|upright|Raphael's plan|alt= Plan 2. This plan has an extended nave with two aisles on either side of it. The main spaces of the church form a Latin cross.
File:L’Architecture de la Renaissance - Fig. 13.PNG|upright|Michelangelo's plan|alt= Plan 3. This plan shows a return to the form of plan 1 but with all the various parts made bolder.
File:
</gallery>

===Michelangelo's contribution===
[[Michelangelo]] took over a building site at which four piers, enormous beyond any constructed since ancient Roman times, were rising behind the remaining nave of the old basilica. He also inherited the numerous schemes designed and redesigned by some of the greatest architectural and engineering minds of the 16th century. There were certain common elements in these schemes. They all called for a dome to equal that engineered by [[Filippo Brunelleschi|Brunelleschi]] a century earlier and which has since dominated the skyline of Renaissance Florence, and they all called for a strongly symmetrical plan of either [[Greek cross|Greek Cross]] form, like the iconic [[St. Mark's Basilica]] in Venice, or of a [[Latin cross|Latin Cross]] with the transepts of identical form to the chancel, as at [[Florence Cathedral]].

Even though the work had progressed only a little in 40 years, Michelangelo did not simply dismiss the ideas of the previous architects. He drew on them in developing a grand vision. Above all, Michelangelo recognized the essential quality of Bramante's original design. He reverted to the Greek Cross and, as [[Helen Gardner (art historian)|Helen Gardner]] expresses it: "Without destroying the centralising features of Bramante's plan, Michelangelo, with a few strokes of the pen converted its snowflake complexity into massive, cohesive unity."<ref name=Gardner>{{Harvnb|Gardner|Kleiner|Mamiya|2005}}</ref>

As it stands today, St. Peter's has been extended with a nave by [[Carlo Maderno]]. It is the [[chancel]] end (the ecclesiastical "Eastern end") with its huge centrally placed dome that is the work of Michelangelo. Because of its location within the [[Vatican State]] and because the projection of the nave screens the dome from sight when the building is approached from the square in front of it, the work of Michelangelo is best appreciated from a distance. What becomes apparent is that the architect has greatly reduced the clearly defined geometric forms of Bramante's plan of a square with square projections, and also of Raphael's plan of a square with semi-circular projections.<ref>Michelangelo's plan, {{Harvnb|Gardner|Kleiner|Mamiya|2005|p=458}}</ref> Michelangelo has blurred the definition of the geometry by making the external masonry of massive proportions and filling in every corner with a small [[vestry]] or stairwell. The effect created is of a continuous wall surface that is folded or fractured at different angles, but lacks the right angles which usually define change of direction at the corners of a building. This exterior is surrounded by a [[giant order]] of Corinthian pilasters all set at slightly different angles to each other, in keeping with the ever-changing angles of the wall's surface. Above them, the huge cornice ripples in a continuous band, giving the appearance of keeping the whole building in a state of compression.<ref name=Mignacca>Eneide Mignacca, ''Michelangelo and the architecture of St. Peter's Basilica'', lecture, Sydney University, (1982)</ref>

===Dome: successive and final designs===
The dome of St. Peter's rises to a total height of {{convert|136.57|m|ft}} from the floor of the basilica to the top of the external cross. It is the [[List of tallest domes|tallest dome in the world]].{{NoteTag|This claim has recently been made for Yamoussoukro Basilica, the dome of which, modelled on St. Peter's, is lower but has a taller cross.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}}} Its internal diameter is {{convert|41.47|m|ft}},<!---NOTE: This is diameter, NOT HEIGHT. Leave it at 41.47.---> slightly smaller than two of the three other huge domes that preceded it, those of the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] of [[Ancient Rome]], {{convert|43.3|m|ft}}, and [[Florence Cathedral]] of the [[Renaissance architecture|Early Renaissance]], {{convert|44|m|ft}}. It has a greater diameter by approximately {{convert|30|ft|m}} than Constantinople's [[Hagia Sophia]] church, completed in 537. It was to the domes of the Pantheon and Florence [[duomo]] that the architects of St. Peter's looked for solutions as to how to go about building what was conceived, from the outset, as the greatest dome of [[Christendom]].

====Bramante and Sangallo, 1506 and 1513====
[[File:Caradosso Foppa, View of Saint Peter's (reverse), 1506, NGA 44669.jpg|thumb|upright|1506 medal by [[Cristoforo Foppa]] depicting Bramante's design, including two of the four flanking smaller domes<ref>{{cite book |last1=De la Croix |first1=Horst |last2=Tansey |first2=Richard G. |last3=Kirkpatrick |first3=Diane |title=Gardner's Art Through the Ages |date=1991 |publisher=Thomson/Wadsworth |isbn=0-15-503769-2 |edition=9th |page=[https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/641 641] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/641}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2025|reason=The reference to page 641 is incorrect to the linked source, which only has 612 total pages, but what appear to be two additional domes on the left and right sides of the image are instead just half-domes at the ends of the transept.}}]]
The dome of the Pantheon stands on a circular wall with no entrances or windows except a single door. The whole building is as high as it is wide. Its dome is constructed in a single shell of [[concrete]], made light by the inclusion of a large amount of the volcanic stones tuff and pumice. The inner surface of the dome is deeply [[coffering|coffered]] which has the effect of creating both vertical and horizontal ribs while lightening the overall load. At the summit is an ocular opening {{convert|8|m|ft}} across which provides light to the interior.<ref name=BF/>

Bramante's plan for the dome of St. Peter's (1506) follows that of the Pantheon very closely, and like that of the Pantheon, was designed to be constructed in [[Tufa]] Concrete for which he had rediscovered a formula. With the exception of the lantern that surmounts it, the profile is very similar, except that in this case, the supporting wall becomes a [[drum (architecture)|drum]] raised high above ground level on four massive piers. The solid wall, as used at the Pantheon, is lightened at St. Peter's by Bramante piercing it with windows and encircling it with a [[peristyle]].

In the case of [[Florence Cathedral]], the desired visual appearance of the pointed dome existed for many years before [[Filippo Brunelleschi|Brunelleschi]] made its construction feasible.{{NoteTag|The dome of Florence Cathedral is depicted in a fresco at [[Santa Maria Novella]] that pre-dates its building by about 100 years.}} Its double-shell construction of bricks locked together in a herringbone pattern (re-introduced from Byzantine architecture), and the gentle upward slope of its eight stone ribs made it possible for the construction to take place without the massive wooden formwork necessary to construct hemispherical arches. While its appearance, with the exception of the details of the lantern, is entirely Gothic, its engineering was highly innovative, and the product of a mind that had studied the huge vaults and remaining dome of Ancient Rome.<ref name=Hartt>{{Harvnb|Hartt|2006}}</ref>

Sangallo's plan (1513), of which a large wooden model still exists, looks to both these predecessors. He realized the value of both the coffering at the Pantheon and the outer stone ribs at Florence Cathedral. He strengthened and extended the peristyle of Bramante into a series of arched and ordered openings around the base, with a second such arcade set back in a tier above the first. In his hands, the rather delicate form of the lantern, based closely on that in Florence, became a massive structure, surrounded by a projecting base, a [[peristyle]] and surmounted by a spire of conic form.<ref name="Fletcher 1996 p=722"/> According to [[James Lees-Milne]] the design was "too eclectic, too pernickety and too tasteless to have been a success".<ref name=JL-M/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="190">
File:Roma S.Pietro in Vaticano (zzf).jpg|alt=Engraved image in two parts. The left side shows the exterior of the dome, and the right side shows a cross-section. The dome is constructed of a single shell, surrounded at its base by a continuous colonnade and surmounted by a temple-like lantern with a ball and cross on top.|Bramante's dome
File:Roma S.Pietro in Vaticano (zzg).jpg|alt=An engraved picture showing an immensely complex design for the façade, with two ornate towers and a multitude of windows, pilasters and pediments, above which the dome rises looking like a three-tiered wedding cake.|Sangallo's design
File:Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae- Elevation Showing the Exterior of Saint Peter's Basilica from the South as Conceived by Michelagelo (Published in 1569) MET DT203424.jpg|alt=This engraving shows the chancel end of the building much as it was built, except that the dome in this picture is completely semi-circular, not ovoid|The engraving by Stefan du Pérac was published in 1569, five years after the death of Michelangelo.
</gallery>

====Michelangelo and Giacomo della Porta, 1547 and 1585====
[[File:St. Peter's Basilica Rome - 20140808 2350.jpg|thumb|St. Peter's Basilica from [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] showing the dome rising behind Maderno's façade|alt=Photo. The façade is wide and has a row of huge columns rising from the basement to support the cornice. The ribbed, ovoid dome is surmounted by a lantern topped with ball and cross. Its drum is framed by two very much smaller domes.]]
[[File:S. Pietro May 2022-15.jpg|thumb|The dome was brought to completion by Giacomo della Porta and Fontana.|alt= Photo looking up at the dome's interior from below. The dome is decorated at the top with a band of script. Around its base are windows through which the light streams. The decoration is divided by many vertical ribs which are ornamented with golden stars.]]

Michelangelo redesigned the dome in 1547, taking into account all that had gone before. His dome, like that of [[Florence]], is constructed of two shells of brick, the outer one having 16 stone ribs, twice the number at Florence but far fewer than in Sangallo's design. As with the designs of Bramante and Sangallo, the dome is raised from the piers on a drum. The encircling peristyle of Bramante and the arcade of Sangallo are reduced to 16 pairs of Corinthian columns, each of {{convert|15|m|ft}} high which stand proud of the building, connected by an arch. Visually they appear to buttress each of the ribs, but structurally they are probably quite redundant. The reason for this is that the dome is ovoid in shape, rising steeply as does the [[dome]] of Florence Cathedral, and therefore exerting less outward thrust than does a [[Sphere|hemispherical]] dome, such as that of the Pantheon, which, although it is not buttressed, is countered by the downward thrust of heavy masonry which extends above the circling wall.<ref name=BF/><ref name=JL-M/>

The ovoid profile of the dome has been the subject of much speculation and scholarship over the past century. Michelangelo died in 1564, leaving the drum of the dome complete, and Bramante's piers much bulkier than originally designed, each {{convert|18|m|ft}} across. Following his death, the work continued under his assistant [[Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola|Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola]] with [[Giorgio Vasari]] appointed by [[Pope Pius V]] as a watchdog to make sure that Michelangelo's plans were carried out exactly. Despite Vignola's knowledge of Michelangelo's intentions, little happened in this period. In 1585 the energetic [[Pope Sixtus V]] appointed [[Giacomo della Porta]] who was to be assisted by [[Domenico Fontana]]. The five-year reign of Sixtus was to see the building advance at a great rate.<ref name=JL-M/>

Michelangelo left a few drawings, including an early drawing of the dome, and some details. There were also detailed engravings published in 1569 by Stefan du Pérac who claimed that they were the master's final solution. Michelangelo, like Sangallo before him, also left a large wooden model. Giacomo della Porta subsequently altered this model in several ways. The major change restored an earlier design, in which the outer dome appears to rise above, rather than rest directly on the base.<ref>{{cite book |last1=De la Croix |first1=Horst |last2=Tansey |first2=Richard G. |last3=Kirkpatrick |first3=Diane |title=Gardner's Art Through the Ages |date=1991 |publisher=Thomson/Wadsworth |isbn=0-15-503769-2 |edition=9th |page=[https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/663 663] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/663}}</ref> Most of the other changes were of a cosmetic nature, such as the adding of lion's masks over the swags on the drum in honour of Pope Sixtus and adding a circlet of [[finial]]s around the spire at the top of the lantern, as proposed by Sangallo.<ref name=JL-M/>

A drawing by Michelangelo indicates that his early intentions were towards an ovoid dome, rather than a hemispherical one.<ref name=Gardner/>  In an engraving in [[Galasso Alghisi]]' treatise (1563), the dome may be represented as ovoid, but the perspective is ambiguous.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qP5PAAAAcAAJ&q=Alghisi |title=Galassi Alghisii Carpens., apud Alphonsum II. Ferrariae Ducem architecti, opus |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403022925/https://books.google.com/books?id=qP5PAAAAcAAJ&q=Alghisi |archivedate=3 April 2023 |first1=Galasso |last1=Alghisi |first2=Dominicus |last2=Thebaldius |year=1563 |url-status=live}} pp. 44, 147 of Google PDF download.</ref> Stefan du Pérac's engraving (1569) shows a hemispherical dome, but this was perhaps an inaccuracy of the engraver. The profile of the wooden model is more ovoid than that of the engravings, but less so than the finished product. It has been suggested that Michelangelo on his death bed reverted to the more pointed shape. However, Lees-Milne cites Giacomo della Porta as taking full responsibility for the change and as indicating to Pope Sixtus that Michelangelo was lacking in the scientific understanding of which he himself was capable.<ref name=JL-M/>

Helen Gardner suggests that Michelangelo made the change to the hemispherical dome of lower profile in order to establish a balance between the dynamic vertical elements of the encircling giant order of pilasters and a more static and reposeful dome. Gardner also comments, "The sculpturing of architecture [by Michelangelo]&nbsp;... here extends itself up from the ground through the attic stories and moves on into the drum and dome, the whole building being pulled together into a unity from base to summit."<ref name=Gardner/>

It is this sense of the building being sculptured, unified and "pulled together" by the encircling band of the deep cornice that led Eneide Mignacca to conclude that the ovoid profile, seen now in the end product, was an essential part of Michelangelo's first (and last) concept. The sculptor/architect has, figuratively speaking, taken all the previous designs in hand and compressed their contours as if the building were a lump of clay. The dome ''must'' appear to thrust upwards because of the apparent pressure created by flattening the building's angles and restraining its projections.<ref name=Mignacca/> If this explanation is the correct one, then the profile of the dome is not merely a structural solution, as perceived by Giacomo della Porta; it is part of the integrated design solution that is about visual tension and compression. In one sense, Michelangelo's dome may appear to look backward to the Gothic profile of Florence Cathedral and ignore the [[Classicism]] of the Renaissance, but on the other hand, perhaps more than any other building of the 16th century, it prefigures the [[Baroque architecture|architecture of the Baroque]].<ref name=Mignacca/>

====Completion====
Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana brought the dome to completion in 1590, the last year of the reign of [[Sixtus V]]. His successor, [[Gregory XIV]], saw Fontana complete the lantern and had an inscription to the honour of Sixtus V placed around its inner opening. The next pope, [[Clement VIII]], had the cross raised into place, an event which took all day, and was accompanied by the ringing of the bells of all the city's churches. In the arms of the cross are set two lead caskets, one containing a fragment of the [[True Cross]] and a relic of [[St. Andrew]] and the other containing medallions of the Holy Lamb.<ref name=JL-M/>

In the mid-18th century, cracks appeared in the dome, so four iron chains were installed between the two shells to bind it, like the rings that keep a barrel from bursting. As many as ten chains have been installed at various times, the earliest possibly planned by Michelangelo himself as a precaution, as Brunelleschi did at Florence Cathedral.{{Cn|date=June 2023}}

Around the inside of the dome is written, in letters {{convert|1.4|m|ft}} high:

{{blockquote|TV ES PETRVS ET SVPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM ET TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI CAELORVM<br />("...&nbsp;you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.&nbsp;... and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven&nbsp;..." [[Vulgate]], {{bibleverse||Matthew|16:18–19|4}}.)}}

Beneath the lantern is the inscription:

{{blockquote|S. PETRI GLORIAE SIXTVS PP. V. A. M. D. XC. PONTIF. V.<br />(To the glory of St Peter; Sixtus V, pope, in the year 1590, the fifth of his pontificate.)}}

==== Discovery of Michelangelo draft ====

On 7 December 2007, a fragment of a red chalk drawing of a section of the dome of the basilica, almost certainly by the hand of Michelangelo, was discovered in the Vatican archives.<ref name="bbc_sketch" /> The drawing shows a small precisely drafted section of the plan of the entablature above two of the radial columns of the cupola drum. Michelangelo is known to have destroyed thousands of his drawings before his death.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=[[BBC]] |title=Rare Michelangelo sketch for sale |date=14 October 2005 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4343488.stm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926055418/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4343488.stm |archivedate=26 September 2022 |accessdate=9 February 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> The rare survival of this example is probably due to its fragmentary state and the fact that detailed mathematical calculations had been made over the top of the drawing.<ref name="bbc_sketch">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7133116.stm |title=Michelangelo 'last sketch' found |work=BBC News |date=7 December 2007 |access-date=8 December 2007 |archive-date=20 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620000116/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7133116.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Addition of nave and facade===
[[File:StPetersplan OttoLeuger1904.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|Michelangelo's plan extended with Maderno's nave and narthex]]
On 18 February 1606, under [[Pope Paul V]], the dismantling of the remaining parts of the Constantinian basilica began.<ref name=JL-M/> The marble cross that had been set at the top of the pediment by [[Pope Sylvester I|Pope Sylvester]] and [[Constantine the Great]] was lowered to the ground. The timbers were salvaged for the roof of the [[Borghese Palace]] and two rare black [[marble]] columns, the largest of their kind, were carefully stored and later used in the [[narthex]]. The tombs of various popes were opened, treasures removed and plans made for re-interment in the new basilica.<ref name=JL-M/> The Pope had appointed [[Carlo Maderno]] in 1602. He was a nephew of [[Domenico Fontana]] and had demonstrated himself as a dynamic architect. Maderno's idea was to ring Michelangelo's building with chapels, but the Pope was hesitant about deviating from the master's plan, even though he had been dead for forty years. The ''Fabbrica'' or building [[committee]], a group drawn from various nationalities and generally despised by the [[Curia]] who viewed the basilica as belonging to Rome rather than Christendom, were in a quandary as to how the building should proceed. One of the matters that influenced their thinking was the [[Counter-Reformation]] which increasingly associated a [[Greek cross|Greek Cross]] plan with paganism and saw the [[Latin cross|Latin Cross]] as truly symbolic of Christianity.<ref name=JL-M/> The central plan also did not have a "dominant orientation toward the east."<ref name="Pile">{{Harvnb|Pile|2005|p=131}}</ref>

Another influence on the thinking of both the Fabbrica and the Curia was a certain guilt at the demolition of the ancient building. The ground on which it and its various associated chapels, [[Vestry|vestries]] and [[Sacristy|sacristies]] had stood for so long was hallowed. The only solution was to build a nave that encompassed the whole space. In 1607 a committee of ten architects was called together, and a decision was made to extend Michelangelo's building into a nave. Maderno's plans for both the nave and the [[facade]] were accepted.

The building of the nave began on 7 May 1607, and proceeded at a great rate, with an army of 700 labourers being employed. The following year, the façade was begun, in December 1614 the final touches were added to the [[stucco]] decoration of the vault and early in 1615 the partition wall between the two sections was pulled down. All the rubble was carted away, and the nave was ready for use by [[Palm Sunday]].{{sfn|Lees-Milne|1967|ps=, "[http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Docs/JLM/SaintPeters-9.htm#nave Maderno's Nave]"}}

==== Maderno's facade ====
[[File:Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano September 2015-1a.jpg|thumb|Maderno's façade, with the statues of Saint Peter (left) and Saint Paul (right) flanking the entrance stairs|alt=Ornate building in the early morning with a giant order of columns beneath a Latin inscription, fourteen statues on the roofline, and large dome on top.]]

The facade designed by Maderno, is {{convert|114.69|m|ft}} wide and {{convert|45.55|m|ft}} high and is built of [[travertine]] stone, with a giant order of Corinthian columns and a central pediment rising in front of a tall [[Attic style|attic]] surmounted by thirteen statues: [[Christ]] flanked by eleven of the [[Twelve Apostles|Apostles]] (except Saint Peter, whose statue is left of the stairs) and [[John the Baptist]].{{NoteTag|[[:File:San Pietro in Vaticano 001.JPG|Another view of the façade statues]]. From left to right: ① Thaddeus, ② Matthew, ③ Philip, ④ Thomas, ⑤ James the Elder, ⑥ [[John the Baptist]] (technically a 'precursor' and not an apostle); ⑦ Christ (centre, the only one with a halo); ⑧ Andrew, ⑨ [[John the Apostle]], ⑩ James the Younger, ⑪ Bartholomew, ⑫ [[Simon the Zealot|Simon]] and ⑬ Matthias. ({{cite web |url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Exterior/Facade/Facade.htm |title=Unofficial architecture site |website=saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date = 1 June 2011}})}} The inscription below the [[cornice]] on the {{convert|1|m|ft}} tall [[frieze]] reads:

{{blockquote|IN HONOREM PRINCIPIS APOST PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS PONT MAX AN MDCXII PONT VII<br />(In honour of the [[Apostle Peter|Prince of Apostles]], [[Pope Paul V|Paul V]] Borghese, a Roman, Supreme Pontiff, in the year 1612, the seventh of his pontificate)}}

(Paul V (Camillo Borghese), born in Rome but of a Sienese family, liked to emphasize his "Romanness".)

The facade is often cited as the least satisfactory part of the design of St. Peter's. The reasons for this, according to James Lees-Milne, are that it was not given enough consideration by the Pope and committee because of the desire to get the building completed quickly, coupled with the fact that Maderno was hesitant to deviate from the pattern set by Michelangelo at the other end of the building. Lees-Milne describes the problems of the façade as being too broad for its height, too cramped in its details and too heavy in the [[attic]] story. The breadth is caused by modifying the plan to have towers on either side. These towers were never executed above the line of the facade because it was discovered that the ground was not sufficiently stable to bear the weight. One effect of the facade and lengthened nave is to screen the view of the dome, so that the building, from the front, has no vertical feature, except from a distance.<ref name="JL-M" /> 

====Bernini's Towers====
[[Pope Urban VIII|Pope Urban]] had long been a critic of Bernini's predecessor, Carlo Maderno. His disapproval of the architect's work stemmed largely from  Maderno's design for the longitudinal nave of St. Peters, which was widely condemned for obscuring Michelangelo's dome. When the Pope gave the commission to Bernini he therefore requested that a new design for the facade's bell towers to be submitted for consideration. Baldinucci describes Bernini's tower as consisting of "two orders of columns and pilasters, the first order being [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]]" and "a third or attic story formed of pilasters and two columns on either side of the open archway in the center".

Pope Urban desired the towers to be completed by a very specific date: 29 June 1641, the feast day dedicated to [[Feast of Saints Peter and Paul|Saints Peter and Paul]]. To this end an order was issued which stated that "all work should take a second seat to that of the campanile". The south tower was completed on time even in spite of these issues, but records show that in the wake of the unveiling the Pope was not content with what he saw and he ordered the top level of Bernini's tower removed so that the structure could be made even grander. The tower continued to grow, and as the construction began to settle, the first cracks started to appear followed by Urban's infamous public admonishment of his architect.

In 1642 all work on both towers came to a halt. Bernini had to pay the cost for the demolition; eventually the idea of completing the bell towers was abandoned.

[[File:San Pietro in Vaticano 4.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The narthex|alt=Photo shows view of vestibule with three huge doorways leading to the church's interior. The doors are framed by columns and have pediments. The floor is of inlaid marble. The nearest doorway is closed by two huge ancient bronze doors. A group listens to a tour guide while one woman examines the doors.]]

====Narthex and portals====
Behind the façade of St. Peter's stretches a long portico or "[[narthex]]" such as was occasionally found in Italian churches. This is the part of Maderno's design with which he was most satisfied. Its long barrel vault is decorated with ornate stucco and gilt, and successfully illuminated by small windows between pendentives, while the ornate marble floor is beamed with light reflected in from the piazza. At each end of the narthex is a theatrical space framed by ionic columns and within each is set a statue, an [[Equestrian statue of Charlemagne (Cornacchini)|equestrian statue of Charlemagne]] (18th century) by [[Agostino Cornacchini|Cornacchini]] in the south end and ''[[The Vision of Constantine (Bernini)|The Vision of Constantine]]'' (1670) by [[Bernini]] in the north end.

Five portals, of which three are framed by huge salvaged antique columns, lead into the basilica. The central portal has a [[bronze]] door created by [[Filarete|Antonio Averulino]] c.&nbsp;1440 for the old basilica<ref>{{cite book |last=Decker |first=Heinrich |title=The Renaissance in Italy: Architecture • Sculpture • Frescoes |year=1969 |orig-year=1967 |publisher=The Viking Press |location=New York |page=279}}</ref> and somewhat enlarged to fit the new space.

====Maderno's nave====
[[File:St-peters-basilica-interior-pannini-1731.jpg|thumb|Maderno's nave, looking towards the chancel, as painted by [[Giovanni Paolo Pannini]], 1731|alt=A painting of the interior of the vast building with arcades, and a coffered ceiling]]

To the single bay of Michelangelo's Greek Cross, Maderno added a further three bays. He made the dimensions slightly different from Michelangelo's bay, thus defining where the two architectural works meet. Maderno also tilted the axis of the nave slightly. This was not by accident, as suggested by his critics. An ancient [[List of obelisks in Rome|Egyptian obelisk]] had been erected in the square outside, but had not been quite aligned with Michelangelo's building, so Maderno compensated, in order that it should, at least, align with the Basilica's façade.<ref name=JL-M/>

The nave has huge paired [[pilaster]]s, in keeping with Michelangelo's work. The size of the interior is so "stupendously large" that it is hard to get a sense of scale within the building.<ref name=JL-M/>{{NoteTag|The word "stupendous" is used by a number of writers trying to adequately describe the enormity of the interior. These include James Lees-Milne and Banister Fletcher.}} The four [[cherub]]s who flutter against the first piers of the nave, carrying between them two [[holy water]] basins, appear of quite normal cherubic size, until approached. Then it becomes apparent that each one is over 2 metres high and that real children cannot reach the basins unless they scramble up the marble draperies. The aisles each have two smaller [[chapel]]s and a larger rectangular chapel, the Chapel of the Sacrament and the Choir Chapel. These are lavishly decorated with marble, stucco, [[Gilding|gilt]], [[sculpture]] and [[mosaic]]. Remarkably, all of the large altarpieces, with the exception of the Holy Trinity by Pietro da Cortona in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, have been reproduced in mosaic.  Two precious paintings from the old basilica, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Our Lady of the Column are still being used as altarpieces.

Maderno's last work at St. Peter's was to design a crypt-like space or "Confessio" under the dome, where the [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]] and other privileged persons could descend in order to be nearer to the burial place of the apostle. Its marble steps are remnants of the old basilica and around its [[Baluster|balustrade]] are 95 bronze lamps.

===Influence on church architecture===
The design of St. Peter's Basilica, and in particular its dome, has greatly influenced [[church architecture]] in [[Western Christianity|Western Christendom]]. Within Rome, the huge domed church of [[Sant'Andrea della Valle]] was designed by Giacomo della Porta before the completion of St Peter's Basilica, and subsequently worked on by Carlo Maderno. This was followed by the domes of [[San Carlo ai Catinari]], [[Sant'Agnese in Agone]], and many others. [[Christopher Wren]]'s dome at [[St Paul's Cathedral]] ([[London]], England), the domes of [[Karlskirche]] ([[Vienna]], Austria), [[St. Nicholas Church (Malá Strana)|St. Nicholas Church]] ([[Prague]], Czech Republic), and the [[Pantheon, Paris|Pantheon]] ([[Paris]], France) all pay [[Homage (feudal)|homage]] to St Peter's Basilica.

The 19th and early-20th-century architectural revivals brought about the building of a great number of churches that imitate elements of St Peter's to a greater or lesser degree, including [[St. Mary of the Angels in Chicago]], [[St. Josaphat's Basilica]] in [[Milwaukee]], [[Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pittsburgh]] and [[Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral]] in [[Montreal]], which replicates many aspects of St Peter's on a smaller scale. [[Postmodern architecture|Postmodernism]] has seen free adaptations of St Peter's in the [[Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń]], and the [[Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro]].