Basilica di San Pietro. Vatican | Moments&Places

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (Basilica Papale di San Pietro), or simply Saint Peter’s Basilica (Latin: Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal enclave which is within the city of Rome. Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter’s is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and the largest church in the world. While it is neither the mother church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome (these equivalent titles being held by the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome), St. Peter’s is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines. It has been described as “holding a unique position in the Christian world“ and as “the greatest of all churches of Christendom“ Dec 2012