Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano is the most prominent building in the Vatican city as well as one of the largest churches in the christian religion. The cathedral covers an area of 5.7 acres (23,000 square meters), not including the entrance piazza with it's colossal scale. The foundation of the church was laid in 1506, but wasn't completed until 1626. Architects and designers who worked on and carried out the construction of St. Peter's include: Bramante, Guiliano da Sangallo, Fra Giacondo da Verona, Raphael, Antonio da Sangallo, Baldassari Peruzzi, Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, Paul V, Carlo Maderna, and Bernini. Not only does the building's scale demand it's importance, but MEGA also applies to the number of famous architects who competed for the design and the height of religious importance (location and site). St.Peter's Basilica, one of the holiest sites of the Christendom, is the original burial place of the apostle Peter (the first bishop of Rome). The cathedral is on the site of the Constantinian basilica and houses over 100 tombs, including mostly popes, some members of Catholic English royalty, etc. St. Peter's is the patriarchal basilica of Constantinople.
Piazza San Pietro leading to the basilica takes on an oval and trapezoidal shape (directly in front of the basilica). This very large space has the potential to overwhelm a visitor, but it doesn't. Although at a colossal scale, the piazza, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, has divisions articulated by paving patterns and different colored stones. The obelisk in the center of the oval shape forms a gigantic sundial marked by circular stones on the pavement. These aspects create smaller spaces inside the vast piazza that relate to human occupancy. The elliptical colonnades is said to enclose a person with "maternal arms of mother church."
The Christian religion is the largest religion in the world, claiming 33% of the world population.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro (1990) in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is now the largest christian place of worship, covering an area of 30,000 square meters.
2 comments:
interesting topic. you make we want to know what the largest places of worship in the world are. this is just one, are their others? what are they. what religions have the largest? did you know that in the south there is a phenomena of Mega Churches that is sweeping the south east. you can see some of that in easly with the repentagon and the 5 smaller churches associated with it. a babushka doll of church buildings. look into it.
mega-churches, largest churches, superlatives. anxiously waiting, this could be a great one.
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