St Peter's Basilica

The Fabbrica records that on 18 April 1506, the Saturday after Easter, Julius II laid the first stone of the new basilica at the site of the present south-west pillar of St Veronica. The master of ceremonies Paride de Grassis describes the pope descending by ladder in pontifical robes into the foundation pit, 7.45 metres deep, laying the marble stone and placing a terracotta vessel holding twelve medals modelled by Cristoforo Foppa, known as Caradosso. The Fabbrica names the architects who followed as Fra' Giovanni Giocondo, Raphael Sanzio, Giuliano da Sangallo, Antonio da Sangallo, Baldassarre Peruzzi, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, Giacomo della Porta and Carlo Maderno, who built the facade between 1608 and 1612. In front of the main altar the Confessio opens on the tomb below, and the altars raised over Constantine's marble casket are those of Gregory the Great, 590 to 604, of Callistus II, 1123, and of Clement VIII, 1594, later covered by Bernini's canopy. The Cathedra Sancti Petri Apostoli is an ancient wooden throne with ivory plaques of the labours of Hercules and ivory friezes of the Carolingian age. Michelangelo sculpted the Pieta in 1498, at twenty-three, for Cardinal Jean de Bilhères Lagraulas, who wanted it for his tomb in the Chapel of the King of France, a chapel no longer standing that stood on the southern flank of the old basilica. The Vatican Mosaic Studio dates from the beginning of the sixteenth century, when Gregory XIII entrusted Girolamo Muziano with the mosaic decoration of the dome of the Gregorian Chapel, 1578 to 1580. In 2026 the Fabbrica di San Pietro held a lecture cycle for the fourth centenary of the basilica's dedication.