St. Peter's Basilica - Table of Contents ................... Architecture Around the World
2013
photos
Interior - St. Peter's Basilica
Vatican
City, Italy
 Coffered barrel roof of the nave.  Note cupola.  Coffered barrel roof of the nave.  Note sculpted figures on the column (detail in next photo below)  Papal crown and keys  Cupola / dome supported by two of four pendentives providing the transition between a dome and the square base on which it is set to transfer the weight of the dome. Michelangelo's dome was only completed to the base when he died. It was later finished by Giacomo della Porta in 1590. Above the windows, the dome is divided into sixteen ribs and as many segments, decorated by majestic figures on six ascending concentric levels. The dome of St. Peter's rises to a total height of 136.57 meters (448.1 ft) from the floor of the basilica to the top of the external cross. It is the tallest dome in the world. Its internal diameter is 41.47 meters (136.1 ft), slightly smaller than two of the three other huge domes that preceded it, those of the Pantheon of Ancient Rome, 43.3 meters (142 ft), and Florence Cathedral of the Early Renaissance, 44 meters (144 ft). It has a greater diameter by approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) than Constantinople's Hagia Sophia church, completed in 537. It was to the domes of the Pantheon and Florence duomo that the architects of St. Peter's looked for solutions as to how to go about building what was conceived, from the outset, as the greatest dome of Christendom.  Two of four pendentives providing the transition between a dome and the square base on which it is set to transfer the weight of the dome.  Pendentives medallion: Evangelist Matthew in mosaic form  Evangelist Matthew depicted with an eagle  Evangelist Mark depicted with a lion  Marble floor    Baroque marble balustrade |
Side aisle Aisle Renaissance style barrel roof  Aisle Renaissance style barrel roof |
