It was on this day, April 18th, in 1506 that Pope Julius II laid the foundation stone of the new basilica of St Peter in Rome. His ambitious plans led to the creation of the dominant and spectacular Vatican basilica we know today. The cost however was not just financial - and think what the sale of indulgences to fund it led to - but also archaeological and artistic - the loss of its venerable predecessor which dated from the fourth century.
A while ago I linked to two videos from the Liturgical Arts Journal about the appearance of the Constantinian basilica of St Peter and its evolution down to its demolition at the beginning of the sixteenth century and its replacement by the present basilica. These two videos can be seen at Envisioning Old St. Peter's at the End of the Middle Ages: The Atrium and Facade and at Envisioning Old St. Peter's: The Interior from the Time of Constantine through the Renaissance
The Liturgical Arts Journal has now linked to another reconstruction video which gives considerably more detail about the late antique and medieval basilica and its physical development over the centuries. It is an excellent visual aid to understanding the appearance and character of the major shrine church of St Peter, even if it was not the seat of Papal authority until the last century or so of its existence.
The new video can be seen at More Digital Reconstructions of the Old Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter's
1 comment:
I'd love to see accurate representations of Old Westminster Abbey (Edward the Confessor's version, rather than the presumably more modest sized Saxon original which it replaced, although that would be interesting too).
I gather the Confessor's version was about the same size as the present abbey, with which Henry III replaced the Confessor's. But the masonry would have been thicker and the windows smaller. So compared with today's Abbey it would have looked rather pokier and darker inside, but still no doubt very impressive.
Also, the Confessor had a crude organ installed in his abbey, and this can be seen in one frame of the Bayeux Tapestry. One book on this tapestry I saw described the contraption as a "mysterious object of unknown purpose", or words to that effect. But it was obviously a rack of multi-coloured organ pipes. It wouldn't have been up to playing a Bach fugue or similar, but I imagine was intended for use in sounding the starting note of chants.
John R Ramsden
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