(S. Pietro.)
EXTERIOR.
Before the era of railways, the traveller in approaching Rome, across the Campagna, was generally electrified by the first glimpse of S. Peter's dome looming in the distance. Then he had full time, in advance of entering the gates of the city, to ponder over all the recollections which the magical word "Roma" might suggest to him. At present he is rapidly borne into the city, and sometimes before he is aware of having arrived even in its neighbourhood; yet the dome is plainly visible from afar by the railway approach of to-day. Now, as then, the first sight of Rome is always her unequalled cathedral; now, as then, the latter is the great object which the tourist eagerly hastens to visit. The present Church of S. Peter is relatively modern, having been first conceived by Pope Nicholas V. about the year 1450. It is built upon the site of the religious edifice erected in the time of Constantine, and consecrated as the "Basilica of S. Peter." The old basilica stood on part of the Circus of Nero, and occupies the spot consecrated by the blood of the martyrs slaughtered by order of that tyrant. Tradition supposes that the basilica held possession of the body of the apostle after his crucifixion,—a circumstance which reflected high credit upon it, and dignified its entrance with the appellation of the "limina apostolorum" (threshold of the apostles). After enjoying the veneration and tributes of all Christendom during eleven centuries, the walls of the old basilica began to give way, and its approaching ruin becoming visible about the year above stated, Nicholas V. conceived the project of taking down the old church, and erecting in its stead a new and more expensive structure. The project was begun, and resulted, after a long series of experiments made by various architects, in the splendid fabric which is now regarded by the world as the chief glory of modern Rome. The work made slight progress until the epoch of Julius II., who resumed the great task, and found in Bramante an architect capable of comprehending and executing his grandest conceptions. The walls of the ancient basilica were then wholly removed, and on the 18th of April 1508 the foundation stone of one of the vast pillars supporting the dome, as we now see it, was laid by Julius with great pomp and ceremony. From that period the work, though carried on with ardour and perseverance, continued during one hundred years to occupy the attention and absorb much of the incomes of eighteen pontiffs. The most celebrated architects of the times displayed their talents in its erection—namely, Bramante, Raphael, San Gallo, Michael Angelo, Vignola, Carlo Maderno, and last, though not least, Bernini, who gave it the finishing touches of ornamentation, and who built the enclosing colonnade. It is estimated that its cost, after completion, was no less than £12,000,000 sterling—a sum representing a far greater value than it does in our day. Colossal statues of Peter and Paul, erected by Pius IX., guard the approach at the foot of the steps on either side.
Eustace says: "Entering the piazza, the visitor views four rows of lofty pillars, 70 feet high, sweeping off to the right and left in a bold semicircle. ('A tabernacle for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain,' Isa. iv. 6.) In the centre of the area formed by this immense colonnade, an Egyptian obelisk, of one solid piece of granite, ascends to the height of 130 feet; two perpetual fountains, one on each side, play in the air, and fall in sheets round the basins of porphyry that receive them. Raised on three successive flights of marble steps, extending 379 feet in length, and towering to the elevation of 148, you see the majestic front of the basilica itself. This front is supported by a single row of Corinthian pillars and pilasters, and adorned with an attic, a balustrade, and thirteen colossal statues. Far behind and above it rises the matchless dome. Two smaller cupolas, one on each side, add not a little to the majesty of the principal dome."
Five lofty portals open into the vestibule; it is 468 feet in length, 66 in height, and 50 in breadth, paved with variegated marble, covered with a gilt vault, adorned with pillars, pilasters, mosaic, and bas-reliefs, and terminated at both ends by equestrian statues, one of Constantine, the other of Charlemagne.
THE OBELISK
is the only one near its original site, the Spina of Nero's Circus, which was near the Sacristy, on the left of S. Peter's. An inscription in the pavement marks the place. Pliny (xxxvi. 14), says: "The third obelisk at Rome is in the Vatican Circus, which was constructed by the emperors Caius [Caligula] and Nero; this being the only one of them all that has been broken in the carriage. Nuncorcus, the son of Sesoses, made it [the original, this is probably a copy], and there remains [in Egypt] another by him, 100 cubits in height, which, by order of an oracle, he consecrated to the sun, after having lost his sight and recovered it." Herodotus says: "It was dedicated by Phero, son of Sesostris, in gratitude for his recovery from blindness." It has no hieroglyphics, so if this was the original how could they know who erected it? but it bears this inscription of Caligula—
DIVO. CAES. DIVI. JULII. F. AUGUSTO.—TI. CAESARI.
DIVI. AUG. F.—AUGUSTO. SACRUM.
[To the divine Augustus, son of the divine Julius, and to the divine Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus.]