It is definitely bigger than the old Basilica of Saint Peter’s. For the Original Basilica, it was not built over Peter’s grave to begin with. It only began as a large memorial in honor of St. Peter. The original nickname for it was called, “The Garden of Paradise (McDowell).” It had 5 doors that lead to the main part of the Basilica, and it was made in 360 A.D (McDowell). The Basilica had Ancient Roman Architecture, it was able to fit about 5,000 Catholics in a Mass, and it had 5 aisles. The roof was decently high, and it was at about 100 feet tall (McDowell). Not much compared to the new and improved Basilica. Now, it is called “The Mother of Churches,” and the roof in the dome is 137 feet tall. Many very famous artists designed the Basilica including Michelangelo, and compared to the other Basilica, there were no well-known artists who designed it (Miller). It is considered a “Major Basilica,” because of how large it is. Along the floor of St. Peter’s Basilica, there are markers showing comparative lengths of other Major Basilicas around the world, which is incredible. The full length of the Church is 730 feet, and the full width of the Church is 500 feet. Instead of 5,000 people, it can hold about 80,000 people for one Mass …show more content…
Michelangelo made many contributions to the Basilica. He is considered to be the greatest artist of Saint Peter’s Basilica and created the greatest feature of the Basilica. He began the Dome Project at age 72, and he had an Italian Renaissance style of art (sacred-destinations.com). He was very paranoid that people would take his work because he designed figures that complimented other beautiful life figures. He took 22 months to design and make about three-quarters of the dome before Giacomo Della Porta had to finish it because he was suffering a stroke (sacred-destinations.com). He also made another beautiful, great feature of the Church called “The Pieta,” and it is a sculpture of Mary holding Jesus. In fact, people snuck in the Basilica at night just to see it and a man even carved on it, “Michelangelo made this,” in Latin. Giacomo Della Porta, a great artist in his time had a Mannerism art style that was from the Baroque period. He was considered to being the “Chief Roman Architect,” and he designed the entrance that leads into the great interior of the Basilica (sacred-destinations.com). He had a great number of elements that he put into the Basilica, and he did a great job on his features in the Basilica. He definitely affected the style of the Basilica greatly, because of his