treaty to organize his armed forces. He is also free to move or live through Italy as he should so desire. The Pope reigns over one billion catholics throughout the world and is assisted by the college of Cardinals and synods of bishops, synods being church councils.
The building you are looking at now, St Peter’s church, is the largest church in the world. The Vatican palace has been the official residence of the Popes since 1377. The original building was built in AD 319 by the Roman emperor Constantine who built a basilica over the tomb of St Peter himself, the first bishop of Rome. In the fifteenth century the building looked as if it would collapse and in 1452 the reconstruction was begun. The whole project soon ran out of money though and it was abandoned for over 50 years until 1506 when Pope Julius II gave instructions for the entire area of buildings to be demolished and the new St Peter’s to be built. Pope Julius II commissioned an architect by the name of Donato Bramante to do the work. Though it wouldn’t be until 1626, another 120 years before the work would be completed. Bramante died in 1514 and four other architects would work on the buildings. Namely Baldassare Peruzzi, Antonio Sangallo, Raphael and of course the most famous of them all, Michaelangelo.
A year before Bramante’s death, in 1513, Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate the Vatican apartments and Michaelangelo to paint the Sistine chapel.
In 1527 Rome was sacked by the army of the holy Roman empire led by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the work once again ground to a halt. Over the next twenty years very little was done and then in 1546 Pope Paul II persuaded an elderly Michaelangelo to complete the building. Michaelangelo reverted back to the original plan of Bramante’s to create a church of Greek style cross plan. Do any of you know what that is?”
Natalie nodded.
“It means that the arms of the church are all the same length.”
“That’s good Miss Feltham. Have you excavated churches in Greece?”
“No. During the summer months the institute runs diving tours for extra funding from the island of Zakynthos. It’s just something I learned somewhere. The sort of thing one picks up.”
“What do you dive for?”
“Oh there are a few ancient shipwrecks off the coast, Roman mainly, though there’s virtually nothing of the ships left themselves. There is an amazing display of hundreds of amphorae all standing upright in the sand.”
“It sounds very interesting. You must surely love your work as I love mine.”
“You have a fascinating job,” Hutchinson added, “This tour is fantastic.”
“I live in one of the oldest and greatest cities in the world. I knew when I was just a small boy that I would dedicate my life to her. To me, she is the most beautiful city in the world.”
“I’d say,” Hutchinson concluded.
“Now,” Alberto said, bringing them back to his tour, “The best of Michaelangelo’s work on st Peter’s church would have been the dome itself but it was never completed during his lifetime and his plans were modified after his death by the architect Giacomo Della Porta. Later when we go inside I will tell you more about the church itself. Now in front of the church is the most beautiful, I think, architecture in the world, St Peter’s square. The Piazza Di San Pietro designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini. It was started in 1656 and completed in 1667. Now it’s called St Peter’s square but this is in fact wrong. It’s shape is not square but elliptical. You can see there are four rows of giant coloumns creating two collonades. Miss Feltham, Mr Dennis, if you would like to stand on either of the stone discs on the ground here and here,” he waited until they were in position, “We are lucky that the crowds aren’t too big. You’ll note that the collonades now appear to be single rows only.”
Alberto paused long enough for Hutchinson to have tried it also.
“That is amazing,” the American said.
“The Egyptian obelisk,” the Italian guide continued, “Is 25.9 metres in height or 85ft if you don’t measure in metric.”
“Never did understand metres,” Hutchinson said, “Pounds and inches are what I know best.”
“The obelisk was brought to Rome from Heliopolis in Egypt in 35AD by the Roman emperor Caligula. It was originally used in the circus and was moved to here in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V. The star at the top of