As a Christian, I failed to sense the spiritual power of this place, but the impression of force and artistic achievement is overwhelming. Probably because Saint Peter’s Basilica is rather a museum, than a place of worship. It is the largest interior space any church has on the face of the Earth. And is the […]

„Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) With these famous words, Jesus Christ instituted the Christian Church, changing the name of Simon to Peter (meaning rock in Latin) to mark the new life of the first disciple that […]

You would not be able to tell it has a Gothic structure on the inside, from the unsuspecting, modest Baroque facade. That is a later addition and its flat low height wall only makes the church blend in with the rest of the buildings on the street. On the inside, the height of the church […]

Pieta is probably the second best known statue of Michelangelo. Without reaching the absolute perfection of David, found in Florence, this sculpture is an impressive example of Renaissance art, by what is probably the best sculptor since antiquity. It represents Mary holding the lifeless body of Jesus, after the descent from the cross, a theme […]

From the treasury held by the Vatican Museum, some 460 notable paintings, grouped in 18 chambers, were selected to form Vatican’s art gallery open to the public. Among them, the works of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Giotto, Veronese, Caravaggio and many others. The canvas paintings add to Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel and […]

The last supper Jesus and His apostles took before the trial and the crucifixion is one of the most popular scenes in Christian iconography. The tradition is so old, this scene was even drawn on the walls of the catacombs when Christianity was illegal. The biblical foundation of this art motif is the highly significant […]

For Renaissance, classic Greek antiquity was the ultimate model. Or, to use a Platonic concept, it was rather an anamnesis, a process of remembering the finest art produced, the fertile debates of an open and curious society. Thus, when Pope asked the 27 years old Raphael to decorate his apartments in the Vatican, the young […]