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I remember that during my childhood and adolescence the square was the meeting point par excellence. I was thrilled when I had to go to a square in order to meet with family or friends and, if we left our city, when we went through each town, we always stopped in its square, which was usually in front of the church or in front of the building of the highest governmental authority.

The square is the fundamental piece of urban design because it is there where the possibility of human contact and development converges. There are squares of all sizes and shapes in all the cities of the world, but there are very few squares that are considered baroque in style, which is why St. Peter's Square (1667) is considered one of the most important achievements, along with the construction of St. Peter's Basilica by the great Baroque sculptor, painter, and architect, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Iconic and representative pieces of Christianity on a global scale.

Ten years ago I traveled to Rome with my wife and one of the places we were eager to visit was the smallest country in the world, Vatican City. We had stayed in a bungalow villa on the outskirts of the Italian capital and getting there meant a journey of two buses, several subway stations and a walk of at least 20 minutes along the great city wall.

_{Above: together with my wife minutes before leaving the villa.
Arriba: junto a mi esposa minutos antes de salir de la villa.}

IN ROME YET

If I remember correctly, it was after 1:00 pm and there was a lot of pedestrian life around. We were still in Rome, but only a few steps away from the Holy See. Finally, after passing through a large, very ancient-looking portico with several words written in Latin, we arrived at the famous St. Peter's Square.

ST. PETER'S SQUARE

Up to that point, I had only seen St. Peter's Square on television during the Angelus prayer masses usually prayed by the Pope. You don't know how big the place is until you are there in person. The square is a total of 76,800 square meters and can accommodate up to 300,000 parishioners at a time. To give you an idea, that's 375 times the number of people in Vatican City. For this reason, the Italian police are in charge of guarding and maintaining order in this space.

The square was built by the master architect and Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini
and is made up of two areas, one is oval-shaped and is flanked on its north
and south sides by two semi-oval colonnades that then join another pair of colonnades
that continue in a straight line towards the sides of the basilica give shape to the second area of the square, also known as the straight square.

In this plan view, you can see the actual shape of the square. In front of the basilica, the square is in the shape of a trapezoid that later joins the elliptical shape. See the lighter lines that converge in the center where the obelisk is located and the two fountains that are next to it.

In this second wider view you can see how the square that is open on its western side merges with the Via della Conciliazione, as that avenue is called and which was one of the last urban modifications during the mandate of Benito Mussolini in 1936.

_{View of St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica from Via della Conciliazione, Rome, Italy.}

By my own estimation, each of the columns supporting this structure stands at least 15 meters high. On the roof of the colonnades are erected 140 sculptures of saints, each with a height of 3.2 meters.

The floor of the square is covered with black stone pavers. Although you can see lines and elements of the infrastructure covered in red stone, gray, cement, and marble. In its center is the obelisk and between the obelisk and each of the two colonnades, there is a fountain.

MUTE WITNESS

As I mentioned before, in the center of the square there is an obelisk and it is of an Egyptian type, carved in pink granite 25 m high, which is called "silent witness" because it is believed that next to it was crucified, St. Peter.

Vatican City, where St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square are located, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984.

Incredibly, this city is also considered to be the most urbanized in the world because between St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica it already occupies 20% of its total territory.

COSMOLOGY & RELIGION

Placed in an orderly and specific manner can be seen on the floor of the large plaza these oval marble stones with bas-relief illustrations of astrological style figures pointing to each of the cardinal points. When I saw them, I couldn't help but think of the movie that Tom Hanks had starred in and his journey in the scene that had unfolded in this very spot. I told my wife about it and then looked for others and photographed them. An interesting aspect is that the oval shape was one of the most accepted geometric shapes by the Christian Church due to its cosmological connotations and for that reason, it is one of the most repeated shapes throughout the Vatican.

_{On the right side of the picture you can see how part of the colonnade is covered by the restoration work. If you click on the image and enlarge it you will notice how the columns and sculptures of that part of the structure look magnificent and shiny.}

IS NOT ONLY CLEANING

Restoration is one of the tasks that must be performed on all antique works of art. If it is not done frequently, they could deteriorate to such an extent that they would be lost forever. After admiring for several minutes and photographing what I saw in front of me, I realized that part of the structure of the colonnade on the south side was covered and inaccessible to the public due to the restoration work that was being carried out. The difference between the newly restored structure and the rest was easily distinguishable. The statues rising above the colonnades on the south side looked spotless, pristine, as if they had just been built, while the colonnade and sculptures on the north side, which had not yet been restored, looked dark and ugly, not to say somewhat dirty and battered.

_{Close up on the area of the restored colonnade in which the ornate baroque style stands out. See the design of the cornices, the columns, the capitals that support the lintel, and above, the monumental sculptures of hundreds of saints.}

It is incredible how a building that is more than 350 years old can still be a place of gathering, introspection and common prayer for millions of Christian parishioners, and thanks to the magnificent conservation work it will remain standing for many centuries to come.

_{All photos are of my authorship.
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Edition: Adobe Photoshop
Banners: Canva
Source: about the square: Wikipedia • DisfrutAroma.com
Translation: DeepL • Google Translate & myself}