The Piazza San Pietro
By Julia Cramer
By Julia Cramer
Since the later part of the fourth century, Rome has been an important destination for pilgrims in search of holy sites connected to their faith. In Debra Birch’s book Pilgrimage to Rome in the Middle Ages, she explains that because Rome was the “richest of all the cities of the West in relics and shrines…[and] its possession of the bodies of the apostles, Peter and Paul”, the city was an important pilgrimage center (Birch 26). Specifically, Saint Peter’s Basilica was, and still is of great importance to their pilgrimage due to its location above the bones of Saint Peter. Since construction began on the new basilica under Pope Julius II in 1506, various designs were considered for a piazza that would match the beauty and grandeur of the church. But the piazza needed to serve practical functions, such as accommodating the thousands of pilgrims descending upon Rome yearly, as well as visually correcting numerous architectural eye sores. In 1656, one hundred and sixty years after the first stone of the basilica was set, Pope Alexander VII and Gian Lorenzo Bernini combined their visions to create the uniquely shaped and massive Piazza San Pietro, which served both aesthetic and functional purposes.
Artist
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was born in Naples in 1598 and first came to Rome with his father at the age of ten. While his father, a mannerist sculptor, was absorbed in projects for Pope Paul V, his gifted son attracted the attention of the Pope’s nephew Scipione Borghese and Maffeo Barberini through his sculptural brilliance. By his mid twenties, Bernini had surpassed his father in skill, becoming well known in Rome for his sensual sculptures such as, Apollo and Daphne, David, and The Rape of Proserpina. After Maffeo Barbernini was consecrated Pope Urban VIII in 1623, he quickly called on the services of the young man who had impressed him as a boy. Bernini received the title of chief architect of Saint Peter’s Basilica, remaining on the job for fifty one years. During this time her helped glorify the basilica by creating the Baldacchino over the high alter, the Cathedra chair at the end of the nave, and a formal set of stairs leading into the Vatican called the Scala Regia. But it was his last commission for the basilica which proved to be his greatest architectural achievement and the final element in the completion of the grandest church in Christendom, the colonnaded Piazza San Pietro.
Patron
The piazza can not be solely accredited to Bernini, for the artist required a patron to fund his design, and although he was the executor, he was not the initial visionary. In 1655, through the financial aid of his banking family, the Chigi’s, as well as support from Spain, Fabio Chigi became Pope Alexander VII. Considered a true roman, Alexander’s popularity was measured by the number of building projects he commissioned. In order to restore Rome back to its ancient glory days, he busied himself with architectural projects such as the decoration of Santa Maria del Popolo, commissioned several churches to be built for Chigi cardinals, and set Bernini to work on the Scala Regia, Cathedra, and the grand piazza.
As mentioned before, numerous ideas for a piazza had been debated since construction on the new basilica began in 1506. Within the second year of Alexander’s pontificate, he settled the controversy and approached Bernini with his vision. Alexander “imagined a colonnade open at the sides, with parallel columns and statues on top, enclosing a piazza” (Scotti 261). Like Julius II, Alexander VII was a patron collaborator. He was very involved in his commissions and interested in the technical and artistic aspects, frequently offering suggestions to Bernini. It is evident through the writings in his diaries that he and Bernini had a decent relationship, unlike the turbulent rapport shared by Julius and Michelangelo. Alexander and Bernini worked closely together, creating various designs, which ultimately resulted in the piazza that stands today.
Description and Function
The Piazza San Pietro is unlike any other urban space found in Italy. Upon entering this grand piazza, visitors are enclosed within Bernini’s colonnaded arms; one can’t help but feel miniscule and powerless in the presence of the Catholic Church. Once inside the piazza, most feel they have entered into an orderly and calm environment, which can be a nice retreat from the noise and congestion found elsewhere in the bustling city.
The massive size and distinctive shape of the Piazza San Pietro make it the most unique piazza in Rome. Bernini and Alexander designed the size and shape to serve four main functions. The piazza had to function as a glorified entrance, able to accommodate thousands of pilgrims. It also had to mask the misalignment of the obelisk; correct spatial irregularities caused by the surrounding neighborhood, and correct the disproportioned width of the basilica’s façade. Bernini faced numerous challenges when starting his project, but with his innovative imagination and drawing ideas from antiquity and other artists, his design was able to serve all purposes.
I.
The most important function of the Piazza San Pietro was to act as a grand entrance, welcoming and accommodating the mass of pilgrims that flooded Rome each year. It was documented that 3 million pilgrims descended upon Rome for the jubilee of 1600. Aware of the multitudes that must be served, Bernini and Alexander needed a space large enough to contain the faithful visitors. Alexander was particularly concerned that every pilgrim was able to receive his blessing. Due to Bernini’s design, visitors are still able to view the Benediction Balcony from any location in the piazza and receive the Pope’s blessing, unless of course they are directly behind the obelisk.
Prior to 1656, the pilgrims that flocked to Saint Peter’s Basilica had a completely different experience than visitors do presently. Today, most visitors approach the piazza and basilica through Mussolini’s road, the Della Via Conciliazione, built in 1936. This massive avenue enables one a frontal view of the piazza and basilica from afar, yet it diminishes Bernini’s intended affect of surprise. Before the 20th century, anyone seeking a visit to the basilica would quickly grow discouraged while wandering through the congested and mazelike alleyways surrounding the complex. Alas, visitors would break from the surrounding cramped neighborhood and enter into an explosion of space, the Piazza Obliqua. This space is large enough to enclose the entire Colosseum, and the furthest ends of the ellipse span 3 average city blocks.
The Piazza Obliqua is flanked by Bernini’s colonnades, which he likened to embracing arms of the church. Supported by 248 columns and 88 pilasters, his colonnades were carved from travertine blocks quarried from mines in nearby Tivoli. 4 rows of Doric columns create 3 covered passageways within the colonnade. The central passageway was left wide enough to allow a carriage to pass, and inscribed on the ceiling is a passage from Isaiah that says “a tabernacle from the heat, and a security cover from the whirlwind and from the rain” (Scotti 263). From this passage it is evident that the Pope would have used this corridor in order to shelter himself from the weather when coming to or from the basilica, leaving the outer passageways for the use of pedestrians.
Bernini’s free standing colonnades were a novel architectural feat during the 17th century, resembling the open air atrium which stood in Constantine’s first basilica. Pilgrims would use this area to prepare themselves spiritually before continuing into the sanctuary. Each colonnade ends in a classical temple front, forming the entrance to the Piazza Obliqua (Gardners). The similarity between Bernini’s piazza and Constantine’s old atrium, as well as the colonnaded temple fronts signify the influence ancient architecture had on Bernini’s design.
Bernini’s colonnades are offset by the movement of 140 Popes and Saints above, 96 of which were carved in Bernini’s workshop, the remaining carved 20 years after his death. These statues are twice the size of an average man and each took two months to carve and mount. Although they were not carved by Bernini’s hand, sculptors employed in his workshop followed specific designs, and the statues exude the same sensual and whimsical style that Bernini was famous for. Bernini referred to these statues as his “cloud of witnesses”, and although most people may hardly acknowledge their presence, they act as a “welcoming committee, greeting the thousands of new visitors who tumble, thirsty and expectant, into the great piazza everyday” (Miller 17).
It was absolutely necessary that Bernini and Alexander’s piazza be grandiose in order to match the magnificent basilica of Saint Peter’s. The size was also a practical necessity for accommodating the mass numbers coming to see Saint Peter’s burial site. Because baroque art was concerned with theatricality, Bernini manipulated the vast space of the piazza to set the “external setting for the Basilica…just as the Baldacchino [created] the interior setting for the alter and dome” (Scotti 263).
II.
Towards the center of the Piazza Obliqua stands a 25.5 meter tall obelisk from the 13th century B.C. Although subtle, the position of this monolith influenced the second explanation for Bernini’s massive piazza.
Looted from Egypt, the obelisk was brought to Rome by Caligula in the 1st century. In its original location, the obelisk stood in Nero’s Circus, 275 yards south west from its present position. In 1585 Pope Sixtus V ordered Domenico Fontana to raise and move the obelisk before the basilica as an attempt to beautify the entrance of Saint Peter’s church. At this time, the piazza was merely an unpaved and unimpressive large space. When Bernini started construction in 1656, he was forced to accommodate the position of the obelisk, which sat 2 degrees off center from the Basilica’s nave. Because of its misalignment, the obelisk does not mark the locus of Bernini’s ellipse. Because an ellipse is formed by two joined circles, it has two central points. The two central points of the Piazza Obliqua are marked by inlaid marble circles, located between each fountain and the obelisk. Standing on one of these discs, viewers can see one of Bernini’s many illusions. Looking out towards the colonnade, the viewer sees that the 4 Doric columns have become one, and depending on whether you move towards or away from the basilica’s entrance, these columns appear as few or many.
The obelisk wasn’t the only pre-existing structure that Bernini had to accommodate during construction. In 1613, the chief architect before Bernini, Carlo Maderno, was commissioned to carve a fountain in another attempt to beautify the basilica’s entrance. Bernini moved Maderno’s fountain from its original location a few feet away and aligned it with the obelisk, then carved a complimentary fountain to place on the other side for visual balance. Bernini ingeniously co-opted these pre-existing structures to define the long axis and vast oval which creates his Piazza Obliqua (GARDNERS).
III.
As mentioned before, Saint Peter’s Basilica was closely surrounded by a busy and unkempt neighborhood. All that consisted of the unpaved and untidy piazza was the obelisk and Maderno’s fountain; an unworthy approach to the grand basilica. When Bernini began construction on the piazza, the Swiss Guard barracks, Pope Paul V’s clock tower, the church of Santa Cantarina, and dozens of houses and shops had to be demolished to make room for the colonnades (Scotti 261). But the Vatican Palace, located North East of the basilica complex, proved most problematic for construction. In order to overcome the difficulties of these irregular spaces, Bernini turned to his own genius and that of a great artist before him.
Prior to Bernini and Alexander’s designs, several ideas for a traditional circular piazza in front of the basilica had been suggested, but this was impossible because it would have cut off parts of the Vatican Palace. Thus, Bernini’s trapezoidal design adjoined to the Piazza Obliqua created a “compound form [which] makes perfect practical sense” (Miller 12). The tapering wings adjacent to the basilica’s façade extended far enough past the Vatican Palace, allowing it to lie unharmed behind the walls of the Piazza Retta. Aside from his own innovative genius, Bernini’s trapezoidal design was influenced by Michelangelo’s remodeled Campidoglio, built a century before. Bernini’s plan reflects his inventive imagination as well as his influence by great artists before him.
IV.
The last function of the piazza’s size and shape was to correct the disproportioned width of the basilica’s façade, another pre-existing structure Bernini was forced to accommodate.
From the first day Carlo Maderno’s façade was unveiled in 1614, it was highly criticized as being too wide in proportion to its height. Also, his statues of Christ and the apostles on the top were too large and distracting. But most offensive was the obstruction of Michelangelo’s dome, which can only be fully appreciated from a distance. In order to counterbalance the façade’s width, Bernini constructed his colonnades only 64 feet tall, creating the illusion of greater height and lesser width. He later compared the relationship between his colonnades and the basilica, as arms to the body’s head. Again, it is evident that Bernini was highly influenced by Michelangelo, sharing similar ideas about the human body’s influence on art and architecture.
Goals/Concerns of Alexander VII:
To understand Alexander’s motive behind his grandiose commission, it is important to note that construction of the piazza began shortly after the Counter Reformation. To combat the pressure and threat of the rising protestant movement, the Catholic Church needed to draw in more followers and exert its superiority. Alexander’s piazza was intended to welcome the faithful, as well as new followers into the warm and open arms of the Catholic Church, while also sending a clear message of its supremacy to the Protestants. To propagate his active role as patron, Alexander had his name inscribed in various places on the colonnades, also mounting several family coats of arms around the piazza. These visible signs helped legitimize Alexander’s authority over the construction of the piazza, as well as the church.
Bernini’s artistic style of sensual movement and theatrical settings, also served the needs of the reviving church. Both his art and architecture moved his audiences emotional and spiritually. And although his piazza depicts everything Luther deplored, such as ostentatious wealth, grandeur, grotesque decoration, it declared a crucial statement about the endurance of the Church and it’s refusal to submit to the demands of the reformation.
Conclusion:
For one hundred and fifty years after construction began on the new basilica of Saint Peter’s, the front piazza was nothing more than a vast unpaved plot, beautified only by the presence of a misaligned obelisk, and an obscurely placed fountain. During this period, numerous ideas had been debated about a grand piazza that would exalt the basilica and welcome visitors. Finally in 1656, 30 years after the basilica’s consecration, Pope Alexander VII and Bernini, his prodigious baroque artist, would combine their ideas, ultimately executing the piazza which stands today. The Piazza San Pietro’s subtle yet dynamic design of an oval combined with a trapezium forms one of the most well known urban spaces in the world, and the most distinctive piazza in Rome. Although modern viewers receive a different view of the piazza than pilgrims would have in the 17th century, both audiences share similar emotions upon entering the colonnaded piazza. This awe inspiring space marks the crossing of a threshold for visitors, not only a national threshold, but a spiritual one as well. No matter what religion visitors identify with, either Christian, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, or atheist, everyone is embraced by the arms of the Catholic Church
Works Cited:
Birch, Debra. Pilgrimage to Rome in the Middle Ages. Rochester, NY: The Boydell P, 1998.
"Gardner's Art Through the Ages, chapter 24." Scholars Resource. 12 Mar. 2009
Miller, Keith. St Peter's. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2007.
Scotti, R. A. Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal Building St. Peter's. New York: Viking Adult, 2006.
"St. Peter's Basilica, Rome." Sacred Sites at Sacred Destinations - Explore sacred sites, religious sites, sacred places. 12 Mar. 2009
St. Peter's Basilica at sunset my 2nd night in Rome. The middle pic is approaching St. Peters, and the last is directly in front, which doesn't do it justice because it's absolutely HUGE!
