400 Years of St Peter's Basilica

400th Anniversary of St Peter's Basilica

St Peter's Basilica in Rome is the center of the worldwide Catholic Church and, at the same time, one of the most important buildings in the history of architecture. Its present form is the result of a construction process spanning more than a hundred years, involving the most influential artists of the Renaissance and early Baroque: Bramante, Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, and finally Carlo Maderno, who completed the façade. Michelangelo designed the characteristic dome, which rises more than 130 meters and still dominates Rome's skyline today. At roughly 215 meters in length, the interior of the church surpasses every other Christian sacred building in the world.

The consecration of the completed new building took place on 18 November 1626 under Pope Urban VIII — following the demolition of the late-antique Constantinian basilica, this was a fresh architectural beginning that had taken more than a century. Since then, the basilica has been the setting for central events of the papacy: canonizations, jubilees, and papal funerals. The adjoining St Peter's Square, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, forms with its colonnade the urban framework that receives pilgrims from around the world. In 2026 the Vatican commemorates the 400th anniversary of the basilica's consecration with a 2-euro commemorative coin, honoring one of the architectural and religious landmarks of European cultural history.