Architecture
St Peter's Square
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1656-1667
Show the style
Baroque · chronological order 6
A monumental square designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini between 1656 and 1667 in front of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, commissioned by Pope Alexander VII. It is an ellipse 240 metres across, framed by two curved colonnades four rows deep (284 Tuscan columns in all, that order chosen for its plainness so it would not compete with the front of the basilica). Bernini compared them to the open arms of the Church, embracing the faithful. In the middle stands an Egyptian obelisk from ancient Heliopolis, brought to Rome by Caligula and moved here in 1586 by Sixtus V.