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St. Peter's Basilica

Religious and Sacred Buildings

The basilica of the Vatican, rebuilt across the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries by a succession of architects including Bramante, Michelangelo, who designed the dome, and Carlo Maderno, and consecrated in 1626. The largest church in the world for centuries, with Bernini's colonnaded piazza before it, it is the central built statement of the Renaissance and Baroque church.

Facts
Building Type
Basilica 3
Location
Vatican City 3
Completed Year
1626 3
The year of consecration; Bernini's piazza and baldachin followed over the next decades.
Height (m)Sourced to the subject's own account
136.6 2
Classification
Standing StatusSourced to the subject's own account
Standing 1
Building Type
Building Type (category)Sourced to the subject's own account
Church 2
Connections

Designed By

The basilica's century-long rebuilding involved several architects in sequence; Michelangelo became chief architect in 1546, redesigned the dome on a centralized plan, and did not live to see it completed, which fell to Giacomo della Porta.

Source Wikipedia

Has Building Type

Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.

In Style

Maderno's nave and facade and Bernini's piazza are defining works of the Roman Baroque.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

The plan and dome belong to the High Renaissance; the completed nave, facade and piazza belong to the Baroque.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

Uses Element

Source Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of ArchitectureBanister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition)
Source Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of ArchitectureBanister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition)

Maderno faced the facade and the great colonnades in travertine, the same stone used across Romes major monuments.

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. St. Peter's Basilica (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationEntity description and the lead of the Wikipedia article
Quote, Entity description and the lead of the Wikipedia article
The basilica of the Vatican, rebuilt across the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries by a succession of architects including Bramante, Michelangelo, who designed the dome, and Carlo Maderno, and consecrated in 1626. The largest church in the world for centuries, with Bernini's colonnaded piazza before it, it is the central built statement of the Renaissance and Baroque church.
View the Source
2. St. Peter's Basilica (Wikidata)
Wikimedia FoundationWikidata height (P2048) statement: 136.6
Quote, Wikidata height (P2048) statement: 136.6
Wikidata item Q12512, property P2048 (height): 136.6 m (converted to metres, preferred/normal rank, non-deprecated)
View the Source
3. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
  • britannica.com/topic/Saint-Peters-Basilica, major basilica ranking section
    The edifice, the church of the popes, is a major pilgrimage site. Frequently drawing crowds of tens of thousands of Catholics, both the basilica and its adjoining St. Peter's Square are used for a number of liturgies presided over by the pope throughout the year. Together with the Basilica of St. John Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano), the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (all three of which are in Rome), St. Peter's Basilica is one of only four churches in the world that hold the rank of major basilica. Until 1989 St. Peter's was the largest church in Christendom.
  • In Style: Renaissance Architecture
  • In Style: Baroque Architecture
View the Source
Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture
Banister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition), Architectural Press, 1996
  • Uses Element: Dome
  • Uses Element: Column
Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationDesigned By: Michelangelo, Michelangelo, St. Peter's Basilica section
Quote, Designed By: Michelangelo, Michelangelo, St. Peter's Basilica section
In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.
View the Source
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