Designed principally by Donato
Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is
the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and remains one of the
largest churches in the world. While it is neither the mother church of the
Catholic Church nor the Catholic Roman Rite cathedral of the Diocese of Rome,
St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites. It has been
described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world" and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom".
By Catholic tradition, the basilica
is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles of
Jesus and, also according to tradition, the first Pope and Bishop of Rome.
Tradition and strong historical evidence hold that Saint Peter's tomb is directly
below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred
at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on
this site since the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.
Construction of the present basilica, replacing the Old St. Peter's Basilica of
the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November
1626.
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