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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Bernini, Piazza di San Pietro, Roma

Speranza



"Perfection in art," wrote Stendhal of St. Peter's Square in Rome. "If there were any more decorations, its majesty would be diminished, any fewer, and it would be naked."

The square that gives access to the first church of Christendom had to be not only of unquestionable magnificence but had also to allow for various practical necessities.

A crowd of thousands had to meet there for the blessing "urbi et orbi" given by the pope from the balcony of St. Peter's and on this occasion the supreme pontiff had to be seen by all.

Moreover, processions had to take place there sheltered from rain and sun.

Finally, the facciata had to be improved

This facciata, the work of Maderno, seems to be too low for its length, for it had not been framed, as had been planned, by the two towers which would give it height.

Bernini's triumph lay in finding the solution that offered the most advantages, while at the same time being profoundly original.

This was his famous quadruple colonnade, eliptical in shape, which to his mind symbolised the maternal embrace of the Church.

Though not very hight, it is impressive.

By a stroke of genius, its builder surmounted it not by arches as tradition dictated, but by a rectilinear entablature.

This, calling to mind the idea of a roof, shows that it is indeed a complete monument, not just an architectural element detached from a more important whole.

The centre of the square is marked by an obelisk that Pope Sixtus V had transported there one hundred years previously.

It had been brought by Heliopolis by the Emperor Caligula, who had set it up in the Circus of Nero, on the site where the first Basilica of St. Peter wasw partly built.

Around this obelisk white stripes mark out a compass dial and frame the stairway that leads up to the church.

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