Panoramic tour of the iconic landmark of Vatican city :Saint.Peter’s Square,amongst the most beautiful squares in the world studded with endless line of Doric Colonnades,statues of saints,granite fountain & an amazing sculpture ‘Angels Unawares’

A PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE BEAUTIFUL SAINT PETER’S SQUARE, VATICAN CITY.

On 8/9/22(third day of our 3-day Rome trip) we had a tour of the beautiful & panoramic St.Peter’s Square, Vatican city with buildings designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini with statues of saints atop numerous columns & pillars .He also designed the granite fountain in the square.We were thoroughly mesmerized by the rare spectacle.Noteworthy was the recent instalation of a bronze sculpture called ‘Angels Unawares” in Sept.2019 with a great theme & a message.Amazing sculpture !We also got to see the entrance of Pope’s residence in the Vatican city.

SAINT PETERS’S SQUARE (Italian: Piazza San Pietro):

Its a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighborhood (rione) of Borgo. Both the square and the basilica are named after Saint Peter, an apostle of Jesus whom Catholics consider to be the first Pope. At the centre of the square is an ancient Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1586. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later, including the massive Doric colonnades, four columns deep, which embrace visitors in “the maternal arms of Mother Church”. A granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain designed by Carlo Maderno in 1613.

The most impressive part of the square, besides its size, are its 284 columns and 88 pilasters that flank the square in a colonnade of four rows. Above the columns there are 140 statues of saints created in 1670 by the disciples of Bernini..

HISTORY :

Fresco of St. Peter’s Square c. 1587, before the dome of the new St. Peter’s Basilica or the façade had been built. The open space which lies before the basilica was redesigned by Gian Lorenzo Bernini from 1656 to 1667, under the direction of Pope Alexander VII, as an appropriate forecourt, designed “so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle of the façade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace”. Bernini had been working on the interior of St. Peter’s for decades; now he gave order to the space with his renowned colonnades, using a simplified Doric order, to avoid competing with the palace-like façade by Carlo Maderno, but he employed it on an unprecedented colossal scale to suit the space and evoke a sense of awe. St. Peter’s Square is located within the Vatican City.

According to the Lateran Treaty the area of St. Peter’s Square is subject to the authority of Italian police for crowd control even though it is a part of the Vatican state.

St. PETERS’S SQUARE COLONNADES(a row of stone columns with equal spaces between them,usually supporting a roof ):
The colossal Doric colonnades, four columns deep, frame the trapezoidal entrance to the basilica and the massive elliptical area which precedes it. The ovato tondo’s long axis, parallel to the basilica’s façade, creates a pause in the sequence of forward movements that is characteristic of a Baroque monumental approach. The colonnades define the piazza. The elliptical center of the piazza, which contrasts with the trapezoidal entrance, encloses the visitor with “the maternal arms of Mother Church” in Bernini’s expression. On the south side, the colonnades define and formalize the space, with the Barberini Gardens still rising to a skyline of umbrella pines. On the north side, the colonnade masks an assortment of Vatican structures; the upper stories of the Vatican Palace rise above.

VATICAN OBELISK(a tapering stone pillar, typically having a square or rectangular cross section, set up as a monument or landmark) :
At the center of the ovato tondo stands the Vatican Obelisk, an uninscribed Egyptian obelisk of red granite, 25.5 m (84 ft) tall, supported on bronze lions and surmounted by the Chigi arms in bronze, in all 41 m (135 ft) to the cross on its top. The obelisk was originally erected in Heliopolis, Egypt, by an unknown pharaoh.

The Emperor Augustus had the obelisk moved to the Julian Forum of Alexandria, where it stood until AD 37, when Caligula ordered the forum demolished and the obelisk transferred to Rome. He had it placed on the spina which ran along the center of the Circus of Nero. It was moved to its current site in 1586 by the engineer-architect Domenico Fontana under the direction of Pope Sixtus V; the engineering feat of re-erecting its vast weight was memorialized in a suite of engravings. The obelisk is the only obelisk in Rome that has not toppled since antiquity.

POPE’S RESIDENCE :

The Apostolic Palace (Latin: Palatium Apostolicum; Italian: Palazzo Apostolico) is the official residence of the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, located in Vatican City. It is also known as the Papal Palace, the Palace of the Vatican and the Vatican Palace. The Vatican itself refers to the building as the Palace of Sixtus V, in honor of Pope Sixtus V, who built most of the present form of the palace. The present Pope is -Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

St. PETER’S SQUARE :The building contains the Papal Apartments, various offices of the Catholic Church and the Holy See, private and public chapels, Vatican Museums, and the Vatican Library, including the Sistine Chapel, Raphael Rooms, and Borgia Apartment. The modern tourist can see these last and other parts of the palace, but other parts, such as the Sala Regia (Regal Room) and Cappella Paolina, had long been closed to tourists, though the Sala Regia allowed occasional tourism by 2019. The Scala Regia (Regal Staircase) can be viewed from one end and used to enter the Sala Regia. The Cappella Paolina remains closed to tourists.

ANGELS UNAWARES:A Sculpture depicting challenges facing migrants & refugees.

Angels Unawares is a bronze sculpture by Timothy Schmalz installed in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican since September 29, 2019. On September 29, 2019, Pope Francis and four refugees from various parts of the world unveiled unveiled & innaugurated the sculpture “Angels Unawares” on the occasion of105th Migrant and Refugee World Day. At its inauguration Pope Francis said he wanted the sculpture “to remind everyone of the evangelical challenge of hospitality”.

History :
The six-meter-long sculpture depicts a group of migrants and refugees on a boat wearing clothes that show they originate from diverse cultures and historical moments. For example, there are a Jew fleeing Nazi Germany, a Syrian departing the Syrian civil war, and a Pole escaping the communist regime. The sculptor of the work said that he “wanted to show the different moods and emotions involved in a migrant’s journey”. It was the first time in 400 years, i.e. since Bernini, that a new sculpture was installed in St Peter’s Square.The idea for the sculpture originated with Cardinal Michael Czerny, a fellow Canadian and Undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section, who commissioned it in 2016. Among the people represented on the ship are the Cardinal’s parents, who immigrated to Canada from Czechoslovakia. The sculpture was funded by a family of migrants from northern Italy, the Rudolph P. Bratty Family.

“Angels Unawares” acknowledges the challenges facing migrants and refugees.The inspiration, Schmalz explains, is a New Testament passage from Hebrews 13:2:“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

The sculpture, according to Schmalz, reveals that the sacred is to be found in the stranger, including refugees and migrants. Figures on the sculpture represent all historical eras and all cultures, and include a Hasidic Jew escaping Nazi Germany, a modern-day Syrian Muslim, a Cherokee man on the Trail of Tears, a pregnant Polish woman escaping Communism, and an Irish boy finding relief from the potato famine. There are ancient refugees, some from the biblical era, and others who migrated through Ellis Island to find a new home in America. An Italian immigrant carries with him a bag of food, suggesting that he and others brought life to the New World as they immigrated to America. Schmalz hoped that his sculpture would encourage the faithful to reflect on the serious problems facing people who seek to escape war and famine, those who attempt to bring their babies and their wives to security and safety in a new land. “As the statue was unveiled,” Schmalz reports, “there were people coming up dead in the sea near Lampedusa.”

My dear readers may kindly point out any incorrect information in my above writeup needing any corrections! I am truly indebted to Wikipedia & for the invaluable information on the subject !Happy Reading !