Rome, Italy - St. Peter's basilica - vatican

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St. Peter's Basilica is allegedly built on the site of St. Peter's Tomb. The modern church was started in 1506 by Pope Julius II. it took more than a century to build. Many great architects of the Roman Renaissance and Baroque helped including Bernini (the Baldacchino - the canopy above the main altar), and Michelangelo (designed the 132.5m high Dome).

On the right as you enter is the Pieta by Michelangelo. This was created in 1499 when Michelangelo was 25. It represents a young Mary with the crucified Jesus. At the far end of the Basilica on the left is the Monument to Pope Alexander VII. It was made by Bernini and represents the Chigi pope with Truth, Justice, Charity and Prudence. Along the main axis of the Basilica are markings to show the lengths of other great religious buildings in the world.

"The medal by Caradosso (1506) and the partial plan drawn by Bramante (in the Uffizi, Florence), probably represent the earliest stage of the design, before the difficulties appeared which obliged the architect and his successors to propose, and in some cases implement, numerous changes. These changes related not only to the general conception of the plan—first a Greek cross, then a Latin one—but also to the plan of the transepts, which at one time were to have ambulatories; to the role of the Orders, first purely decorative (Bramante), then structural (Raphael, Michelangelo); and to the construction and shape of the dome, first with a single masonry shell (Bramante), then a double one (Sangallo, Michelangelo). The piers at the crossing, which were intended to support the dome, were one of the biggest problems; too slender in Bramante's plan, they were frequently reinforced... In the 17th century further important modifications were made by Bernini when he created the great colonnade that encircles the Piazza San Pietro."