Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART
Preferred Title:
St. Peter's Baldachin
Alternate Title:
Baldacchino di San Pietro
Image View:
Twisted column with Corinthian capital supporting entablature
Creator:
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian sculptor, 1598-1680)
Location:
site: Saint Peter's (Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano) (Rome (Vatican City), Santa Sede (Holy See), Italy)
Location Note:
Piazza di San Pietro
GPS:
41.902222 12.453333
Date:
1623-1634 (creation)
Cultural Context:
Italian
Style Period:
Baroque; Seventeenth century
Work Type 1:
ciborium (structure)
Classification:
Sculpture and Installations
Material:
bronze; marble
Technique:
carving (processes); casting (process)
Measurements:
94.3 ft (height)
Subjects:
architecture; Old Testament and Apocrypha; Barberini family; Urban VIII, Pope, 1568-1644; bees
Description:
A large Baroque sculpted bronze canopy, technically called a ciborium or baldachin, over the high altar of St. Peter's. The baldachin is at the center of the crossing, and directly under the dome of the basilica, to mark the place of Saint Peter's tomb underneath. The four columns are 66 feet high. The base and capital were cast separately and the shaft of each column was cast in three sections. Their helical (twisted) form was derived from the smaller marble helical columns once thought to have been brought to Rome by the Emperor Constantine from Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The structure is decorated with detailed motifs including heraldic emblems of the Barberini family (Urban VIII was born Maffeo Barberini) such as bees and laurel leaves. (Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Main_Page)
Collection:
Archivision Adjunct Module D: World Art
Identifier:
6A1-BG-SP-BAL-A19
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

St. Peter's Baldachin