Vatican Grottoes

The vaults were built between 1590 and 1591 to carry the floor of the Renaissance building, on a design descending from a variation Antonio da Sangallo the Younger presented to Leo X after Raphael's death in 1520. In 1592 Clement VIII Aldobrandini renovated the medieval crypt and named it Clementine. In 1616 and 1617 Paul V built two straight corridors to the Confessio and added the chapels of the Salvatorello, of the Madonna of the Bocciata and of the Madonna of the Partorienti, frescoed with the peribolos by Giovan Battista Ricci da Novara. Under Urban VIII, 1623 to 1644, four oratories dedicated to St Veronica, St Helen, St Longinus and St Andrew were built at the base of the dome pillars, designed by Bernini and decorated by Agostino Ciampelli, Guidobaldi Abbatini and others, each with a spiral staircase up to the basilica. National chapels followed: Irish in 1954, Polish in 1958 and 1982, Lithuanian in 1970, Patron Saints of Europe in 1981 and Mexican in 1992, with the oratory holding the tomb of Pius XII from 1958. In 1979 a large archway was opened in the central part, making the front of the Confessio and the Niche of the Pallia visible.