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  1. Home
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  3. Old Saint Peter's, Rome
  • Cited by 15
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
December 2013
Print publication year:
2013
Online ISBN:
9781107300453
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107300453
Subjects:
Ancient History, Area Studies, Art, Classical Archaeology, History, European Studies, European History 450-1000, Architecture
Series:
British School at Rome Studies
Information

Book description

St Peter's Basilica in Rome is arguably the most important church in Western Christendom, and is among the most significant buildings anywhere in the world. However, the church that is visible today is a youthful upstart, only four hundred years old compared to the twelve-hundred-year-old church whose site it occupies. A very small proportion of the original is now extant, entirely covered over by the new basilica, but enough survives to make reconstruction of the first St Peter's possible and much new evidence has been uncovered in the past thirty years. This is the first full study of the older church, from its late antique construction to Renaissance destruction, in its historical context. An international team of historians, art historians, archaeologists and liturgists explores aspects of the basilica's history, from its physical fabric to the activities that took place within its walls and its relationship with the city of Rome.

Reviews

'… impressive and interesting …'

Source: The Times Literary Supplement

'Although this book has been written for experts, it will not fail those who are eager to know more about the first church of Christendom.'

Source: The Art Newspaper

'This elegantly conceived volume adds considerably to our knowledge and understanding of one of the most remarkable buildings to have been constructed over the last two millennia … the book amply and illuminatingly demonstrates that an old and long-vanished building can still remain a powerful resource for historical research of the highest significance.'

David Hemsoll Source: History Today

'… splendid and lavishly illustrated …'

Timothy D. Barnes Source: Expository Times

'… an essential reference tool … illuminating observations … the production of the volume is highly commendable, with maps that will make it a pleasure to use this work for research and teaching purposes.'

Richard Westall Source: The Classical Review

‘Together they have created an impressive book that sports nearly 130 illustrations, images and plates. Most of the contributions start out with a detail of the modern plan of St Peter’s, showing the most important places in the church that the following pages proceed to deal with, which is very helpful. The special highlight is the (approximately) 62x48 cm (or a little more than 2x1.5 ft!) fold-out facsimile of Tiberio Alfarano’s plan of Old St Peter’s shown in the relationship to the new basilica from 1590. This alone is great to have; albeit admittedly relatively modern, it shows many locations in the old church.'

Clemens Gantner Source: Early Medieval Europe

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Contents

Page 2 of 2

Contents
  • 17 - Saint Peter's in the fifteenth century
    pp 324-347
  • Paul II, the archpriests and the case for continuity
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Many late antique and medieval sources show that the Early Christian basilica of Saint Peter's had a baptistery, but it has left no physical traces. Early descriptions of the location of this inscription are particularly interesting. Until the fifteenth century, the inscription was not inside the basilica but outside, fixed on the external wall near the hillside. The idea that the baptistery of Saint Peter's was monumental and independent was developed some time ago by Gillian Mackie. Many observations seem to indicate that the baptistery of Saint Peter's was a monumental one. It remains certain that the place of the Vatican baptistery must be associated with the north transept where it was described from the sixth-century Gesta Liberii to Alfarano a thousand years later, but the exact place indicated on Alfarano's plan was probably only the vestibule of an external independent and monumental baptistery.
  • 18 - Filarete's renovation of the Porta Argenteaat Old Saint Peter's
    pp 348-370
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The first section of the Liber Pontificalis was completed in c. 535. It presents a history of the popes from Saint Peter to Pope Silverius in the form of serial biography. The original conception and structure of the Liber Pontificalis then determined the form of the subsequent extension added between 625 and 638 in the pontificate of Honorius. Saint Peter's status as a shrine is greatly enhanced by the Liber Pontificalis's records of the gifts and visits from foreign kings and envoys. Yet both Saint Peter's and the pope himself acquire an interesting role in diplomacy. Liber Pontificalis only records the orchestration of papal burials. Saint Peter's basilica and its various functions as one key focus of the stational liturgy, venue for councils, pilgrimage site, art treasure and holy place, are all deployed by the Liber Pontificalis authors to enhance and promote papal authority.
  • 19 - The altarof Saint Maurice and the invention of tradition in Saint Peter's
    pp 371-385
  • View abstract

    Summary

    An imperial mausoleum was, after all, a marked statement of enduring and constant care of the imperial house for a particular site, particularly when that mausoleum was intended not merely for an individual but for a dynasty, as the mausoleum of Honorius appears to have been. Not only were fifth-century emperors spending far more time in Rome than had their fourth-century predecessors, in addition, a major transformation was taking place in the nature and perception of the imperial office across this period, and this transformation also had its part to play in the foundation of the mausoleum of Honorius. The construction of the mausoleum of Honorius at Rome was a striking statement of the renewal of imperial commitment to the city in the fifth century. An imperial mausoleum was a powerful statement of commitment to a city and of dynastic continuity.
  • 20 - Epilogue. A hybrid history:
    pp 386-403
  • The antique basilica with a modern dome
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The building of the imperial mausoleum at Saint Peter's marks a new and closer association of the western emperors with Rome. This process was characterized on the one hand by the emperors' increasing involvement with Saint Peter's and on the other by the popes' rise to a greater prominence in imperial affairs. The provision of episcopia was included to the right and left of the entrance to the atrium of Saint Peter's, presumably residences for the clergy of Symmachus's household. The question of the staffing of the great papal basilicas is an important one, but the state of the evidence is such that the issue can probably never be resolved. Saint Peter's is especially problematic, because of its dual role as a great public monument, founded and endowed by an emperor, and as a major theatre for papal ceremonial.
  • Appendix - Letter of the canons of Saint Peter's to Paul V concerning the demolition of the old basilica, 1605
    pp 404-415
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Liturgical practices were not strictly uniform from one community to another, but there was a tendency to view Saint Peter's as the model, and it was at Saint Peter's that some important features of the familiar Roman liturgy took shape. For the eighth-century office celebrated by the monasteries serving Saint Peter's, the evidence is focused largely on the cycles of readings during the night office of Matins. The fourfold liturgical year, centred on Saint Peter's, seems to underlie the arrangement of readings in OR XIV, OR XVI and OR XIVB, representing the period when the great Roman basilicas were staffed by monastic communities, and when Saint Peter's seems to have been something of a model for the other churches of the city. The liturgical leadership seems to have been shifting away from the Vatican basilica, toward the person of the pope himself, whose cathedra or chair was at the Lateran.
  • Bibliography
    pp 416-466
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Though the new Eastern feast of the Annunciation was adopted in the Latin West in the course of late seventh century, only one basilica developed in its liturgy a theological rationale for the new feast. The basilica was Saint Peter's on the Vatican. The liturgy of Saint Peter's on the Vatican was in the care of monks of Saint Martin. In Alfarano's plan, the chapel of the monastery is marked: just outside the western end of the basilica, slightly to the south of the apse. The author's example of how the liturgy at Saint Peter's looked out to a wider world beyond Rome is the celebration of All Saints in the chapel in front of the martyrium of Saint Peter, to the south side of the nave, in parte virorum. Saint Peter was chief of the apostles, who had been told by Christ to 'go therefore, teach ye all nations'.

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