Once in St. Peter's Basilica, the main objective is to reach the access to the dome but first I went to take a photo from below. This is... I know it's hard to get an idea of how big it is and how high it sits.

The decorative wealth throughout the interior of the Basilica is overwhelming, you could spend all day looking at each of the statues, paintings, columns, mosaics, etc.

After a basilica tour, you go out into an interior courtyard, to the side of the building. This takes us to an elevator that rides us to the base of the dome.
As you can see, every inch of the dome is lavishly decorated and the dome is so large that the opposite front looks very small. To give you an idea of how big it is, look here on the left side there is a door. Through that door, you can climb to the top of the dome.
In the upper part of the pillars that support the dome there is the inscription:
• HINC VNA FIDES • MVNDO REFULGET • HINC SACERDOTTI • VNITAS EXORITVR •
"Here the one true faith spreads throughout the world, here the unity of the priesthood is born".

The inner perimeter of the dome presents the inscription in Latin with 2 m high letters:
TV ES PETRVS ET SVPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM ET TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI CAELORVM
"You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven".

These are some of the mosaics that adorn the corridor that surrounds the base of the dome.

This is a view of the dome from its base and which rises to a height of more than 136 meters.

Through that door that I mentioned before, you can access a narrow staircase that goes up around the dome. This staircase consists of 365 steps, one for each day of the year. Once you enter there is no possibility of returning and climbing up to that height is really exhausting. The reward is this view of St. Peter's Square and the Vatican Gardens.

Finally, the most wonderful thing I could see inside the Basilica: The Pietà by Michelangelo Buonarroti.

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I wish you a very nice day!

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Peace Is Over

by J.Van de Perre - video demo, painting process

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100% SP (manual transfer to SP)

#club100