Marmble

1656 – 1667 colonnade

Width:

• 20 cm

St. Peter’s Square

     Bernini created the colonnade with the idea that it could "welcome with maternally open arms, Catholics, so as to confirm them in their faith, heretics, to reunite them to the Church, and infidels, to enlighten them in the true faith".

    When viewed from any corner of the square the columns seem countless, non-aligned and dynamic. However, two round white marble plaques mark the "center of the colonnade”. These indicate the center of the hemicycle of the northern colonnade and the center of the southern, which are perfectly aligned. If you look at the colonnade from one of these points the four rows of the colonnade disappear into one row of columns.

Project design