GreatBuildings Page
Archiplanet Page
Piazza of St. Peter's
 Great Buildings  Search  Advanced  Buildings  Architects  Types  Places  3D Models  Pix  Archiplanet   ArchitectureWeek  
Architect Bernini
Subscribers - login to skip ads
Location Vatican City, surrounded by Rome, Italy   map
Date 1656 to 1667   timeline
Building Type piazza, outdoor plaza, urban open space
 Construction System bearing masonry, cut stone
Climate mediterranean
Context urban
Style Baroque Neoclassical
Notes Piazza Di Pietra. Piazza of Saint Peter's. Space defined by curving colonnades. Elliptical plan with central obelisk. See also St. Peter's of Rome.
Images

 

Photo, axial overview, looking over and across
Photo, eye-level looking across
Inside colonnade, north side, from east
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Drawings

 

Drawing
Drawing
Plan Drawing

 Contributions appreciated.

3D Model
3D Massing Model (DesignWorkshop 3dmf)

3D Spatial Model (DesignWorkshop 3dmf)

Model Viewing Instructions
 Free 3D for the GBC
Discussion Piazza of St. Peter's Commentary

"The Piazza of St Peter's was built by Bernini for Pope Alexander VII in 1656-67. It was conceived as a grand approach to the church but had to be planned so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle of the faŤade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace."

— John Julius Norwich, ed. Great Architecture of the World. p175.

"Four rows of simple and majestic Doric columns—300 all together—carved from Roman travertine form an oval 650 feet across the long axis marked by three monuments: laterally by fountains propelling tall jets of water and in the center by an Egyptian obelisk that had served as a turning post in the chariot races at the ancient Circus of Nero. As they enter the piazza, the faithful are embraced by "the motherly arms of the church," Bernini's own description of his Colonnade. The Colonnade becomes simultaneously a dramatic frame for the church, a nurturing enclosure for the crowds of faithful, and a stage for the processions and other sacred spectacles on which, at this particular period, the Catholic Church so strongly depended for its appeal."

— Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p343.

Resources
Sources on Piazza of St. Peter's

Howard Davis. Slide from photographer's collection. PCD.2260.1012.1537.004. PCD.2260.1012.1537.001

Johnson Architectural Images. Copyrighted slides in the Artifice Collection.

Christian Norberg-Schulz. Baroque Architecture. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1986. ISBN 08478-0693-6. LC 85-30011. NA590.N6. project for the third arm perspective drawing, f27, p27. diagrammatic final solution drawing, f26, p27. plan drawing, f25, p27.

John Julius Norwich, ed. Great Architecture of the World. London: Mitchell Beazley Publishers, 1975. ISBN 0-394-49887-9. NA200.G76. photo, p175. Reprint edition: Da Capo Press, April 1991. ISBN 0-3068-0436-0. — An accessible, inspiring and informative overview of world architecture, with lots of full-color cutaway drawings, and clear explanations. Available at Amazon.com

Alene Stickles, University of Oregon. Slide from photographer's collection, July 1993. PCD.2365.1012.0634.056, View within colonade. PCD.2365.1012.0634.054. PCD.2365.1012.0634.052, View from the dome of St. Peter's.

Duane Siegrist, University of Oregon. Slide from photographer's collection, July 1993. PCD.3236.1011.0837.021.

Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture, from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986. ISBN 0-13-044702-1. NA200.T7. p343. — available at Amazon.com

Kevin Matthews. The Great Buildings Collection on CD-ROM. Artifice, 2001. ISBN 0-9667098-4-5.— Available at Amazon.com

Amazon.com  Find books about Piazza of St. Peter's


 

Loading...
Web Resources
Links on Piazza of St. Peter's

Piazza of St. Peter's at Archiplanet — Find, add, and edit info at the all-buildings collaboration

We appreciate your  suggestions  for links about Piazza of St. Peter's.

Loading...
 Great Buildings  Search   Model Viewing Tips   DW   Discussion   Blogs   Books   Archiplanet   ArchitectureWeek  
Subscribe free to weekly design and building newsletters by ArchitectureWeek

Quick Search by name of Building, Architect, or Place:   
Examples:  "Fallingwater",  "Wright",  "Paris"       Advanced Search
Send this to a friend | Contribute | Subscribe | Link | Credits | Media Kit | Photo Licensing | Suggestions

Special thanks to our sustaining subscribers including
BuilderSpace.com, and Saniflo Upflush
and offering bathroom vanities .  

© 1994-2013 Artifice, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.GreatBuildings.com/buildings/Piazza_of_St._Peters.html