Vatican City : St. Peter's Basilica

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica, is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City.  It was initially planned in the 15th century by Pope Nicholas V and then Pope Julius II to replace the ageing Old St. Peter's Basilica, which was built in the fourth century by Roman emperor Constantine the Great. 

Construction of the present basilica began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.

Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, and Carlo Maderno, with piazza and fittings by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is one of the most renowned works of Italian Renaissance architecture and is the largest church in the world by interior measure. 

Catholic tradition holds that the basilica is the burial site of Saint Peter, chief among Jesus's apostles and also the first Bishop of Rome (Pope). Saint Peter's tomb is directly below the high altar of the basilica, also known as the Altar of the Confession. 

St. Peter's is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major papal basilica, all four of which are in Rome, and is also one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop; the cathedra of the pope as bishop of Rome is at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.

31 May 1933

St. Peter's Basilica

7 March 1949

21 December 1949

27 October 1959

The Vatican Obelisk is an Egyptian obelisk, one of the thirteen ancient obelisks of Rome, located in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City. It is the only ancient obelisk in Rome that has never fallen.

Made of red granite, it has a height of 25.3 meters and, together with the cross and the base (composed of four bronze lions, by Prospero Antichi), it reaches almost 40 meters.

It is of Egyptian origin, devoid of hieroglyphs and comes, according to Pliny, from the city of Heliopolis; it was originally placed in the Forum Iulii of Alexandria in Egypt and was brought to Rome by Caligula in 40 AD, and placed at the center of the Circus of Nero. It remained in this position after the circus fell into disuse, occupied by a necropolis. In the 16th century it was moved next to the Old St. Peter's Basilica, at the Rotonda di Sant'Andrea.

22 May 1975 : Mardeno Fountain

The Fountains of St. Peter's Square (Fontane di Piazza San Pietro) are two fountains in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, created by Carlo Maderno (1612–1614) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1667–1677) to ornament the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica. 

16 October 1980

The left side of each stamp depicts a self-portrait of Bernini. A medallion commemorating one of Bernini's great works appears on the right side:

80-lire medallion depicts the Baldacchino in Saint Peter's Basilica. 

170-lire medallion depicts St. Peter's Square with a third wing.

250-lire medallion depicts the bronze chair and a group of Doctors of the Church in St. Peter's Basilica. 

350-lire medallion depicts the royal stairway leading into the Apostolic Palace. 

The originals of both the medallions and self-portrait are preserved in the Vatican Apostolic Library.

11 Nov 1991

In the Catholic Church, the Synod of Bishops, considered as an advisory body for the pope, is one of the ways in which the bishops render cooperative assistance to him in exercising his office. It is described in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as "a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world."

23 March 1993

4 February 2000

St Peter & St. Peter's Basilica