#vaticancity

The dome above the Madonna of the Column or St. Leo Chapel is one of 10 minor domes in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.

The Altar of St. Leo the Great (1653) in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, portrays the historical meeting of Attila and Pope Leo. The figures of Apostles Peter and Paul appear above the King of the Huns to dissuade him from invading Rome.

The dome of the Baptismal Chapel in the first bay of the left aisle of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, carries 18th-century mosaics of baptismal scenes.

In 1678 Gian Lorenzo Bernini created the Tomb of Pope Alexander VII in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. The red marble drapery is lifted by an allegorical gilt bronze figure of death with Charity and Truth on each side.

The Dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, is another masterpiece by Michelangelo Buonarroti. For a close up look at the mosaics and a panoramic view of Rome, ticketed tourists can climb 551 steps to the top. The lift only reaches the terrace.

A gilded bronze Baldachin (1633) with a white dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit in the canopy is directly below the massive dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Baldachin (1633) in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, is one of the largest bronze artworks in the world with four spiral Solomonic columns supporting a huge processional canopy.

The ancient Chair of Saint Peter in the apse of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, was encased in a gilded bronze canopy by Gian Lorenzo Bernini between 1647 and 1653.