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St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican
Distance from the hotel: 3,5 km (2,17 miles)
On foot
- Approximately 50 minutes
Public Transport
- Metro line A or Bus no. 64 and 40
- Approximately. 20 minutes
Taxi
- Approximate cost Euro 15
- Approximately 16 minutes
St. Peter's Basilica represents one of the most famous Basilicas in the world. It is 218 metres long and raises a total height of 130 metres from the floor of the basilica to the top of the external cross. The total surface raises 23000 square metres. It is the see of the most important religious events and therefore it is very involved into Christmas celebrations, Easter, and liturgies of Holy Week, proclamation of new Popes and the obsequies of died Popes, the opening and the end of Jubilees.
The front of the Church is 115 metres large ad 46 metres tall. It was erected by Carlo Maderno between 1607 and 1614. It is preceded from 2 statues representing St. Peter and St. Paul, realized by Giuseppe De Fabris e Adamo Tadolini in 1847. On the top you can admire the statue of Jesus, Giovanni Battista and the eleven apostles. In the sides there are two clocks realized in 1785 by Giuseppe Valadier; under the left clock you can admire a big bell with a circumference of 7,50 metres and with a weight of 9 tons. After the central gate there is a portico extending for all the width of the façade from which open the five entrances of the Church. To entre the Basilica there are five entrances, the Death Door, the Good and Evil Door, the Filarete Door, the Sacraments Door, the Holy Door (the northernmost Door).
The Dome, with its highness of 136 metres, its 42 metres of diameter and its 537 steps is the symbol of the basilica and of all Rome. Four huge pilasters (with a perimeter of 71 metres) support the whole structure whose weight is 14000 tons. It was built during two years by Giacomo Della Porta who followed Michelangelo drawings and the internal decoration is realized through the mosaic technique by Cavalier D’Arpino and Giovanni De Vecchi for Clemente XIII’s will. In the Basilica subsoil open the Vatican Cave, place of burial for several Popes. So it represents an underground Church composed by three naves, placed in the foundations of St. Peter’s Baldachin and obtained through the difference in level between the old and the new Basilica.
The Basilica has six bells. The first one is the Great Bell ,placed under the front clock, it rises to a total diameter of 231,6 cm and a weight of 8950 kg, then there is the Campanoncino with a diameter of 177,2 cm and with a weight of 3640 kg; the third bell is the Rota, the oldest bell whose first goal was to gather all the Roman Rota Tribunal Auditors : it rises a total weight of 1815 kg. the fourth bell is the Sermon melted by Giovanbattista Lucenti and rising to a total weight of 830 kg; the fifth is the Ave Bell, melt again in 1932 by Daciano Colbachini and with a height of 75 cm it rises a total weight of 250 kg. The last bell is the Campanella, melt in 1825 by Luigi Lucenti and with a weight of 235 kg. The Sagrestia is an external building, placed to the left of the Basilica; it is connected to the St. Peter nave by two passages sustained by several arches. It was committed by Pope Pius IV to Carlo Marchionni in 1776.
Inside this articulatedarea visitors can admire the common Sacrestia: ir is covered by a big dome and placed side by side from the Canonical and Incumbents Sacrestia, and from the Capitolo and Treasure Room where several sacred objects are conserved.
The Mecenate Palace Hotel is 3,8 km away from St. Peter's Basilica
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