Iconology of St. Peters Rome - Essay Example

The basilica of St. Peter has, throughout the centuries, captured the attention of both academics and lovers of arts. The artistic value of this old building emanates from its exceptional construction as well as the great amount of treasures it contains. Hand to hand with that artistic value comes a religious value, St. Peter, being one of the most important Christian buildings, arouses many emotions for believers. Historical approach to Christian art During the first three centuries of the Christian era, Christianity evolved a new faith one that can’t be taken in exclusion of the social, cultural and religious framework of the late Roman Empire. Therefore, the Christian architecture has to be seen in the context of a Roman-Hellenistic world. Early believers didn’t have the means to found a Christian architecture, their congregations and mission meetings were held in whatever place suited the occasion. Prior to 200, only the state religion erected temples in the tradition of Roman and Greek architecture. The situation radically changed, in the second century, the number of Christians massively increased especially in Minor Asia. By 230, Christians started to figure in councils, the palace, the senate, the forum. That Christian expansion provoked major standard changes in the state leading eventually to an authority conflict. The Christian segment of the population had to face the challenges of officialdom. The refusal of Christians to participate in public worship and their claim of secular power has added to the complexity of the situation. The government’s reaction to their demands was violent, a big amount of Christians were executed and arrested. In consequence, cemeteries had to be constructed to grasp the amount of martyrs. In fact, it become to inevitable to start edifying some architectural buildings destined to serve the new needs of Christians, to work as a cemetery for martyrs as well as a shelter for congregations . Therefore, both religious and social factors favored the construction of Christian community houses. These community houses developed to the actual form of churches by the fourth century of which the beginning was marked by the reign of the first Christian emperor, Constantine. The latter saw himself as a prophet who is “divinely appointed to lead Christ’s church to victory” (Krautheimer, 39) therefore he employed serious efforts to raise the church’s rank and to draw many pagans towards it. The period of his reign was indeed considered as the Golden age of the Christianity. In fact, he granted Christianity an official standing causing it to gradually transform into a dominant religious and a political power by making it widely linked to the imperial administration. These changes in the position of the church led to many consequences. First, the public’s conception of religion changed, God was no longer perceived as a god of humbleness but instead as an “Emperor of heaven “(Krautheimer, 40). In addition to that, the impact of hieratic element’s increased; “the rite of the oblation at the end of the Mass of The Catechumens became a solemn procession of the congregation depositing their offerings on the altar or a nearby table” “(Krautheimer, 40). Finally, the graves of the martyrs and their places of martyrdom became object of public veneration and pilgrimage. All the previous factors combined to provoke a revolutionary development of architecture. The increasing number of Christian believers required in return large buildings to serve them as churches. Certainly, these ecclesiastic buildings had to be set apart from ordinary domestic ones as they reflect the image of the dignity of the church. “Given her new official standing under Constantine and her new concept of Christ the King, the Christian Church, in search of an architecture was bound to turn to the realm of public, official architecture”(Krautheimer, 41). Therefore, the new architecture had to fulfill both social and religious needs. The basilica is the perfect construction to fulfill the latter needs. In fact, basilicas were built all over the roman world since the second century. In modern architecture a basilica is supposed to be a building divided into a nave and two or more aisles and lit by the windows of clerestory. However, barely any of these roman churches matched these criteria, in most cases, basilicas took various form to adapt to certain needs. One trait, however, remained in common between all these basilica, being a large meeting hall. The most important basilicas of Rome were the Cathedral of Rome, S. Giovanni Laterano and the very S. Peter in Vatican. For sure, the Christian basilica was not derived from any of the common multiple forms of Roman basilicas; it was “new creation within an accustomed framework “(Krautheimer, 42).1 The old basilica of St. Peter A the old basilica of St. Peter was replaced between 1505 and 1613 by the present church, the excavations and old descriptions, drawings, and paintings offered a clear picture of the construction of the old building. Its construction started further to a decision of Constantine to house the shrine of St. Peter in a huge basilica that would hold thousands of pilgrims. 2 At that time the tomb chambers of the large necropolis surrounding the second-century memorial of the prince of the Apostles were filled in and their tops cut off. On the new level a large terrace was driven from east to west and from south to north into the slope of the Vatican Hill. Only the top of the Apostle’s monument was left, rising near the western end of the site, the church being occidented, not oriented. On the terrace a vast basilica was laid out, enclosing the shrine and covering the entire site. In order to overcome the obstacles of the terrain, the foundation walls of nave and aisles to the south had to be built up some 8 m. (25ft) from the slope of the slope of the hill. 3 Compared to the difficulty of the task and to the size of the building, the mission of the execution was done in a short period. By 329, the construction was complete as well as the dedicatory mosaic inscriptions on both the arc of the apse and the triumphal arc. . On the triumphal arc was discovered an inscription that says: “Because under your leadership the world rose triumphant to the skies, Costantine, himself victorious, has founded this wall in your honour”. This inscription was later accompanied with a mosaic in which figured Costantine previewing the church to both the Christ and St. Peter. Another inscription was discovered in the ninth century talking about the value of the Basilica as “The seat of Justice, the house of Faith and the hall of Chastity”. 4 Saint Peter: The Heroa and hero cult served as a base to the cult of martyria that sprang in the second century. St. Peter’s church was built over the grave of St. Peter as the finds underneath it uncover what appears to the first martyrium. Archaeological evidence meets conventional tales in the narration of the story of the apostle Peter, to whom Christ has entrusted the keys of his church. . According to local Christian believes, in 64 AD, the apostle Peter suffered death in Rome that was the era of Roman emperor Nero. In that reign martyrdoms of many Christians happened due to the Great Fire of Rome and his execution happened to be one of them. By 200, his Tropaion, the monument symbolizing his victory over death and paganism, was apparently venerated on the Vatican hill in the aedicula that is now unearthed. The indications scratched into an adjoining wall proof that to the Christians of the century this was considered to be the shrine of the apostle. The lower part of the niche was buried by 320 but the upper part remained. It’s on the latter part that Constantine’s architects built the enormous mass of the basilica that, to this day, forms the center of veneration in St. Peter’s.5 Description of the old building The foundation walls are of one built proving that one unchanged plan controlled the whole process of the construction. The difficulty of the construction lies in the multiple functionality of the building. The church was laid out to answer several needs: to house the memorial of St. Peter, to offer religious services to the crowd, to hold congregations and also to function as a martyruim and a funeral hall. The dimensions of St. Peter’s basilica are of exception grandiose. “With a total length of 119 m (391ft), a nave length of 90m (300ft), and a width of 64m (208ft)” it overpasses in size the Lateran basilica and the cathedral of Rome. The exceptional character of the church extends to its inner construction, the nave and the aisles they were joined by a continuous transept except for in the end sections, that transept leading to a huge apse. These two associated parts formed a separate place in the basilica. A triumphal arc linked the nave to the transept, that latter being connected to the aisles through column screens. That transept enshrined the apostle’s memoria” rising on the chord of the apse, his monument was set off by a bronze railing” (Krautheimer, 56), therefore it was considered as the main focus of the building. Above the monument, rose a baldacchino, resting on four spiral vine scroll columns, and linked to the corners of the apse by two columns. Curtains covered the openings of the apse. The transept’s essential role was to hold the crowds coming to venerate the shrine. Exceptionally, the transept was given over as chancel to the clergy in commemorative services as it serves in all kind of rites, all of them being practiced behind the altar. When it comes to naves and aisles, they were used as a covered cemetery recalling graveyards such as S.Lorenzo and S. Sebastino. Unlike the latters, St.Peter’s martyruim was “fused with the chancel part into the transept” (Krautheimer, 56) to become visible to the public. The loose attachement of the nave and aisles on one hand and the transept and apses from the other is pretty curious and reveals the diversity of the functions of the two parts. “As in all constantunian architecture, precious colorful materials and furnishings focused attention on the interior” (Krautheimer, 56) the visitor’s experience with the church takes the form of a “crescendo” as the sources of fascination increase gradually.6 From the river, the street,flanked by roman tomb monuments, ascended over a slight incline to the triple entrance gate of the atrium, the pilgruim proceeded across the atrium, past the cantharus, the fountain. [..]At the west end of the atrium, the pilgrim could see the façade of thenaive, plain like all Constantinian exteriors. Entering the nave, he moved between twenty-two huge columns [..].In the transept was the shrine of St Peter, the very goal of the pilgrimage.7 Both The Nave and the fountain represented major centers of fascination in the basilica. The fountain consisted of a second-century bronze pine cone placed under canopy. It was composed of six porphyry columns and carried” four bronze arches curtained with grilles and surmounted by bronze peacocks” (Krautheimer, 56). As for the Nave, the colours of the wo rows of twenty-two columns composing the inside of the nave varied from “green serpentine”( Krautheimer, 57) and “yellow giallo” to red and grey granite, in a diameter from 0.92 to 1.18 m (36 1/4 to 46 1/2 in.) . 2.5 meters of distance separated each column from the other. These proportions resembled the Parthenon Colonnade. The upper wall of the nave rose to a height of 32m (105 ft). The light came to the nave through eleven wide windows. When it comes to the aisles, they were in equal heights and they had no source of illumination except for the outer aisles and transept. 8 The colonnades in St. Peter stood against the dimly-lit foil of the aisles; the lower colonnades between the aisles in both churches also obey the laws of visual order; the huge windows of the nave alternate with dark window piers.9 The new St. Peter When the new basilica was constructed, the old one was still standing.The sixteenth century Rome witnessed a brief period of prosperity that preceded the attack of the Spanish imperial troops on the city. The classic architecture blossomed, accordingly, by the hands of Bramante, one of the most important architects of the Renaissance. When Julius II was elected to papacy, he conceived to Bramante the task of reorganizing and enlarging the Vatican. The latter worked on the extension of Vatican by annexing two great courts and a garden, the two of them to be assembled later. The Cortile del Belvedere summarized the basics Bramante’s architectural school and was evaluated as a unique work of art that can be compared to the glorious old roman architecture. However, the most influential work of Bramante was his design of the new St. Peter. Bramante believed that sacred architecture has to take a circular form as this shape is considered to be the one of perfect and idealism. The new church was to stand in a large piazza, joining the court of the Belvedere with one of its corner. However, the plan he designed for the church was altered by others after his death, now, only a portion of his work remains as Pirro Ligorio’s semi-dome was built infront of the museum. Another important architect, Michelangelo, designed the stairs in the foot of the semi-dome. Even The dome of the Torre Borgia, a building constructing by Bramante to crown the view down the courtyard and over the theatre was demolished by the fire of 1523. The completition of the new basilica after bramante;’s death was entrusted to many successor and followed a progressive path with each of the architects completing his successor’s work. It is important to mention that the process of the completion of the work was a very long one, “161 years divide the laying of the foundation stone of Bramante’s church from the completion of Bernini’s colonnades in the piazza om 1667”(Anderson, 86). Logically the final construction reflected the numerous minds and tastes of its builders10. Bibliography 1- Krautheimer, Richard, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture: Fourth Edition, Yale University Press, 1992. 2- Curran, John R, Pagan City and Christian Capital: Rome in the Fourth Century, Oxford University Press, 2000. 3- Anderson, William james and Stratton, Arthur James, The Architecture of the Renaissance in Italy, C. Scribners Sons, 1927 Read More