St. Peter's Square
Description
St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighbourhood or rione of Borgo.
At the centre of the square is an ancient Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1586. It was made of red granite and is 25.5 metres tall. The obelisk was originally erected at Heliopolis, Egypt, by an unknown pharaoh.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later, including the massive Tuscan colonnades, four columns deep. A granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain designed by Carlo Maderno in 1613.
Address
Piazza San Pietro, Vatican, Vatican City State
Established
1656-1667
Official website
Wikipedia article
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