50 Fun Facts About St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica stands inside which independent microstate?

Unlike Rome's other three major basilicas, it lies entirely outside Italian territory.

The original fourth-century basilica on the site was built by which Roman emperor?

It was over 103 metres long and, like all early Roman churches, had its entrance at the east end.

Construction of the present basilica began in 1506. In which year was it completed?

That is 120 years of work spanning the reigns of more than twenty popes.

By what measure is St. Peter's the largest church in the world?

Its interior covers about 15,160 square metres; by exterior footprint it ranks second.

St. Peter's is not Rome's cathedral. Which church is, as the Pope's seat and mother church?

St. Peter's is only a cathedral in the popular imagination; it is not the seat of any bishop.

According to Catholic tradition, St. Peter's tomb lies directly beneath what?

The altar is also called the Altar of the Confession, and popes have been buried near it since the early Church.

How many churches in the world hold the rank of major papal basilica?

All of them are in Rome, and St. Peter's is also one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches.

The colossal statue of St. Veronica in one of the dome piers shows her holding what?

The four pier statues match the four great relics: her veil, Longinus's spear, Helena's True Cross and a relic of St. Andrew.

The Holy Door of St. Peter's is opened only during what?

By tradition it is walled up with bricks in between; the present bronze door was designed by Vico Consorti in 1950.

The two 5.55-metre statues on the steps in front of the facade depict which pair of saints?

They are the two first-century apostles to Rome; both are believed to have been martyred in the city.

In which year was St. Peter's inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

It was listed under criteria (i), (ii), (iv) and (vi) as a constituent structure of the city-state.

How high does the dome rise, from the basilica floor to the top of the external cross?

That makes it the tallest dome in the world and, as of 2016, the second tallest building in Rome.

Tradition holds that St. Peter was martyred in Rome in 64 AD during the reign of which emperor?

His death came amid the wave of persecutions that followed the Great Fire of Rome.

According to Jerome, how did Peter ask to be crucified?

He considered himself unworthy to die in the same manner as Jesus.

The Egyptian obelisk in St. Peter's Square, a 'witness' to Peter's death, originally stood where?

It is the only ancient obelisk in Rome never to have fallen since it was re-erected there in 37 AD.

Which pope announced the discovery of St. Peter's tomb in a radio broadcast on 23 December 1950?

Ten years of digging under the crypt had found bones wrapped in gold-decorated cloth tinted with murex purple.

To gather stone for a new basilica, Pope Nicholas V ordered the demolition of which ancient monument?

By his death 2,522 cartloads had been carted off for the project.

Pope Julius II decided in 1505 to demolish the ancient basilica partly to house what?

The tomb was to be sculpted by the greatest sculptor of the age; a design competition followed, and entries survive in the Uffizi.

Which German Dominican's sale of indulgences to fund the basilica provoked the scandal that led to the Reformation?

He was appointed by Albrecht of Mainz, who owed debts to the Curia and cleared them by pushing the fundraising.

With which company did the Vatican build an AI 3D model of the basilica from drone photos in 2024?

The same partnership produced a Minecraft map called 'Peter is Here' for the 2025 Holy Year.

Whose Greek-cross design won the competition for the new basilica, begun in 1506?

His dome was to rest on just four piers instead of a continuous wall, a feature kept to the very end.

The winning 1506 dome design was inspired by which ancient Roman building?

The model's dome is a single shell of concrete lightened with tuff and pumice, with an 8-metre oculus at the top.

Which painter became architect of St. Peter's in 1514, only to die six years later aged 37?

His plan added a five-bay nave with apsidal chapels off the aisles.

Which artist, then in his seventies, became Capomaestro of St. Peter's on 1 January 1547?

He took the job reluctantly, writing that he did it 'only for the love of God and in honour of the Apostle'.

The dome's internal diameter of 41.47 m is slightly smaller than which earlier Renaissance dome?

It is, however, about 30 feet wider than the dome of Constantinople's Hagia Sophia.

How many stone ribs run up the outer shell of the dome?

That is twice the number on Florence's dome; the outer ribs are matched by 16 pairs of Corinthian columns on the drum.

The dome was brought to completion in 1590, the last year of which energetic pope's reign?

Lion's masks were added over the swags on the drum in his honour, and an inscription under the lantern records the date.

When cracks appeared in the dome in the mid-18th century, what was installed between its two shells?

They work like the hoops on a barrel; as many as ten have been fitted over the centuries.

The dome's inscription 'You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church' comes from which Gospel?

The letters are 1.4 metres high, and the verse continues with the promise of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Who designed the basilica's facade and the nave that extended the Greek cross?

His nave went up from 1607 with an army of 700 labourers, though critics have blamed it ever since for hiding the dome.

The facade is built of which stone?

It is 114.69 metres wide and 45.55 metres high, topped by thirteen statues.

The inscription across the facade frieze honours which pope, who liked to stress that he was a Roman?

It is dated 1612, the seventh year of his pontificate; he was born in Rome to a Sienese family.

The two clocks on top of the facade were created to replace what?

The left clock shows Rome time and the right shows European mean time; the ground could not bear the towers' weight.

How many bronze lamps ring the balustrade of the sunken Confessio beneath the dome?

Its marble steps are remnants of the old basilica.

How tall is the great bronze canopy over the papal altar?

Its twisted columns copy eight ancient ones from the old basilica, said to have come from the Temple of Solomon.

Along with olive leaves, which insects are picked out in gold leaf on the bronze canopy over the altar?

They were the emblem of the Barberini family of Pope Urban VIII, whose niece's portrait also appears on it.

The ancient Chair of St. Peter enshrined in the apse was a gift from which ruler?

The chair itself appears to date from the 12th century, and its bronze housing is held aloft by four Doctors of the Church.

Who designed St. Peter's Square, built between 1656 and 1667, with its two great curving colonnades?

He said the colonnades were the maternal arms of Mother Church reaching out to embrace visitors.

The columns of the piazza's colonnades are of which classical order?

The colonnade is four columns deep, and the piazza is in two parts: a trapezoid by the facade and a huge ellipse around the obelisk.

Who ordered the building of the Via della Conciliazione, from the Tiber to the piazza?

Before it was cut, visitors reached the square through a jumble of old buildings that made the view open up as a surprise.

The basilica's largest bell, the Campanone, weighs roughly how much?

It rings at Christmas and Easter, for the Urbi et Orbi blessing, and to announce the death or election of a pope.

How many popes are buried in St. Peter's?

The basilica also holds Emperor Otto II, the composer Palestrina and Countess Matilda of Canossa.

Which monarch, who abdicated in 1654 to convert to Catholicism, is buried in St. Peter's?

Her monument stands on the first pier of the right aisle; the exiled Stuarts are commemorated across the nave.

Who was interred in St. Peter's on 5 January 2023?

Nearby lies the fourth-century 'Tomb of the Julii', rediscovered during 20th-century excavations.

The 'Navicella' mosaic above the central external door, a ship symbolising the Church, follows a design by which artist?

What survives is mostly a 17th-century copy of the early-14th-century original.

One foot of the bronze statue of St. Peter Enthroned is largely worn away. Why?

The statue is sometimes attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio, though some scholars date it to the fifth century.

The baptistery font was carved from the lid of a porphyry sarcophagus that once held which emperor?

It replaced an earlier font made from the sarcophagus of Probus, a fourth-century Prefect of Rome.

The Pietà in the first chapel of the north aisle holds what distinction among its sculptor's works?

Vasari says he cut his name into Mary's sash after overhearing visitors credit the work to another sculptor.

On Pentecost Sunday 1972 the Pietà was attacked by a geologist with a hammer. What did he shout?

Laszlo Toth's 15 blows took off Mary's arm at the elbow, and the restored statue now sits behind bulletproof glass.

On Alexander VII's tomb, the thorn piercing Truth's toe on the globe represents what?

A skeletal winged Death emerges from the doorway below, brandishing an hourglass.