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Home , Apollo (Michelangelo), Arch of Titus, Basilica, Baths of Diocletian, Cathedral, Chapel

The New St 's: or ? Author(s): Ian Campbell Source: Oxford Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, Tradition (Jul., 1981), pp. 3-8 Published by: Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1360115 Accessed: 01/06/2009 21:57

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http://www.jstor.org The New St Peter's: Basilica or Temple?

IAN CAMPBELL

As the principal of Western , St Peter's can be seen as the solid expression of itself, the product of an at times uneasy between the traditions and of the thought _.a F Jewish and Graeco-Roman worlds. Both strands have _ _. long been recognised in the symbolic significance of St Peter's as we shall see, but how far did these ? 4_ kw ~ -l ideas make themselves felt in the fabric when the question of rebuilding arose in the ? By the time of the Renaissance there was a long- _x established tradition of regarding as the successor to the earthly . A good example of this can be found in the church of S. Croce in

Gerusalemme in Rome, which was established in the AIL.. fourth century in a of a belonging to . I mother of . An I Helen, early *o sixteenth-century inscription preserved there in the subterranean of Helen asserts that Helen's of the of Christ's Passion from the to that church, combined with the inde- ficient faith of the inhabitants of Rome, make the the truerJerusalem. It follows that if Rome is equated with Jerusalem then its church will be to the

major compared .5 Temple. Strictly speaking, Rome's premier church is the Basilica, which is the city's , and we do indeed find that it has associations linking it with the Temple. Not only were the ornaments and treasures plundered from the Temple on its destruc- tion by the Romans believed to have been given to the Lateran by Helen, but also the readings in the commemorating the dedication of the Basilica (9th of November), all refer to the Temple. However, the wider spiritual authority claimed by the of Rome is derived from St Peter, leader of the , and thus the church built on the presumed site of his tomb has come to represent the or Universal Church. It, too, is associated with the Temple, through the twisted columns Fig. 1. : 'Parchmentplan ', darkbrown ink decorated with vine leaves which, in Old St Peter's and ochreshading, 111 (max.) x 54.4 (max.) cm. Architec- founded by Constantine, were first used to support tureIr, , . the canopy over the saint's tomb. There were originally six, but the gift of another six similar columns prompted Gregory the Great to have been brought to Rome by Helen. In fact, rearrange them to form a screen across the . 's Temple had been destroyed by Eight of them are now used to frame the niches Nebuchadnezzar, long before the Romans, who of the four most precious relics of St Peter's, which demolished the , that of Herod the are hollowed out of the piers supporting the . Great, which had in turn replaced that of Bernini reproduced their form on a gigantic scale Zerubabbel, built after the return of the from in the four columns of the Baldacchino. The the Babylonian Captivity. columns are now thought to originate from second- When Martin V entered Rome in 1420, after the century A.D. Minor, but formerly they were Papacy's own 'Babylonian Captivity', followed by believed to have been in Solomon's Temple, and to forty years of the Great Schism, he found St Peter's

THE OXFORDARTJOURNAL -July 1981 3 : i the Eastern Church the fourth IpL?1 during century. :i !1I? IT? ". P $ it ti .' C ?I iti:a'-L-*? I 1L.:I1 there is a more famous from rl ,. ... ?r rr..rr ??rr. ? ??r? However, Julius ?? .. '' ??C-;? Y 1;3'? Antiquity, namely : the former Cardinal i...... B..ih ` ?????? Giuliano did not eschew P ...,?- comparison I '.??? :? with the bellicose founder of the Roman , and a medal, thought to have been struck for ...... , i: Julius' triumphal entry into in 1506 after I , the capture of that city by papal troops, bears the PONT II. Caesar, :i- r, * r- moreover, was already associated with the Vatican, B,I?i?? r * *u??aCI through the sphere at the top of the then " **rx*? I .I K?Li -r?L? ,,* ' :.h .. OA to the south of Old St which was ii uv??v :.w-v *vr * *' standing Peter's, ti:,? fz (r1 ? - r ?r ;?;?-rr to contain his ashes. L reputed Indeed, Bramante, Julius' architect, wanted to build the new church to the south west of the old so that the obelisk would be in front of it, but the Pope vetoed the suggestion, because he did not want to violate the shrine of Peter. Thus, we can see that there is a substantial behind the New St Peter's. Fig. 2. : Baths of ,pen and bistre ideological programme We must now examine how far this is reflected in wash, 39.6 x 46.7 cm. Vol. 4 f I, Royal Institute of There is British Architects,. the . nothing to suggest that the Temple of Jerusalem was taken as a for the basilica, although there is reference, during the in a state of repair and made a partial papacy of Sixtus IV (1471-84) to the Temple's restoration. However, by the time of Nicholas V's being a model for the Old St Peter's. It has also papacy it was clear that more drastic measures were been recently suggested that the dimensions of the called for. In a of Nicholas, written very are based on those of the Temple shortly after his death, we read that, shunning the as described in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, oracles of and the writings of Socrates - the as one would expect, it was the physical remains of example of - the Pope studied Classical Antiquity littering Rome which inspired the descriptions of Solomon's Temple and palace in Bramante and his successors. The architectural the Old Testament. After quoting the relevant vocabulary employed, including , cupolas passages, the biographer goes on to show how far and coffered barrel vaults, is more reminiscent of superior Nicholas' schemes for rebuilding St Peter's the great imperial bath complexes (or )than and the Vatican were to Solomon's, just as Christi- of , with the exception of the , to anity is toJudaism. which we shall return. This resemblance is even Nicholas' plans were thwarted by his early death in stronger in some of the earlier schemes of 1455, leaving only the beginnings of a vast and Bramante and his followers than in the church as . Another fifty years had to pass before it stands today, which owes most to . the project was taken up again by Julius II, who The juxtaposition of spaces of different sizes and laid the foundation stone in 1506. Again, Solomonic shapes, separated by screens of columns, in parallels were drawn: in an address to the Pope in Bramante's so-called 'parchment plan' (Fig. 1), is 1507, Aegidius of compares him to Solomon similar to that found in the (Fig. and Zerubabbel, as well as to Pope Silvester and 2), or those of , while a plan in the 'Menican- Constantine, founders of the first basilica, and tonio sketchbook' (Fig. 3), deriving from the circle of exhorts him to surpass their achievements, raising Bramante, shows St Peter's surrounded by an enor- the pediment as high as . Similarly, in a papal mous precinct , composed of elements taken from bull of 1513, Julius speaks of Solomon the Wise, those enclosing the Baths of (Fig. 4) and who, although unenlightened by Christianity, yet those of Caracalla. spared no sacrifice to build a house worthy of . It is understandable that Renaissance architects Unlike Nicholas, however, Julius was fully pre- should have been thrilled by these thermae, which pared to associate himself with the Graeco-Roman are among the largest and most spectacular remains tradition. He is notable for extending and consolidat- in Rome, but they are hardly suitable models for ing the thus restoring some of Rome's the greatest church in Christendom. However, the temporal power, as well as attempting to bolster architectural forms of the great baths are used in its spiritual aspirations. His dual aim is perfectly another building in Rome, the Basilica Nova expressed in his choice of name on election to the (Fig. 5), which was begun by the emperor Chair of Peter. The only previous Pope to bear it and completed by Constantine in the early fourth is remembered chiefly for having asserted the century. Its original form of a large , ending primacy of the See of Rome over the of in an apse, and flanked by three inter-connecting

4 THE OXFORD ARTJOURNAL -July 1981 bays each side, all of which were covered by coffered !Ir 1.. barrel vaults is similar to that of (Fig. 6), very t2, . the great central hall of the , t .. s built a few years previously. Constantine made _,_ * j~~~~~~~~~ some alterations, including the addition of an apse to the middle bay of the north side, but the 4 !* 1ti1 t- I basilica's parentage is still obvious. r .. psE'. Ci r By the , the central and most pp: 0.*@1 I V? of the south side of the Basilica had collapsed, leaving only the three northern bays and the western apse, which, however, still make one of the most impressive sights of Rome. The real identity of the had long been forgotten, and they were commonly thought to belong to the Temple of Peace, the precinct of which abuts onto the north- western corner of the basilica. It is this case of - mistaken identity which provides the key to our ) *o story, for there is a persistent tradition that ~'%i.: .<':"':' J x ' Bramante's scheme for St Peter's was based on the s "'>'......

: a- St .." - I idea of the Pantheon resting on the Temple of .--6 ... .. I .. I - Peace. Although it is impossible to find a source for this tradition, there is strong circumstantial Fig. 4. AndreaPalladio: Baths of Diocletian, pen and bistre evidence in its favour: Serlio's plan of Bramante's wash, 43.4 x 45.4 cm. Vol. 5 fI, Royal Institute of intended dome (Fig. 7) is very similar to the ground British Architects,London. Thejuxtaposition of the plans of the Baths with two early schemesfor St Peter's is meant to demonstrateonly general similarities in the manipulation of Y-Is the commonuse curved a space,for example, of interconnecting &0. 0~lC4(a and rectangularspaces of differentsizes, some kept discreteby screens of columns. However, more specific correspondences can be seen. The anglepavilions and adjacentspaces in Fig. 1 : I . I resemblethose facing the large semi-circular of the Baths of Diocletian.

plan of the Pantheon (Fig. 8), each having eight openings divided by pairs of columns, between eight slightly longer stretches of solid wall. Similarly, there are several schemes by followers of Bramante C-/I,,J a Basilica Nova ' showing thinly disguised adapted tt* ..... ,? s cs .^.'; ^t to suit the plan of the church (Figs. 9 and 10). (The Basilica Nova was almost always recon- structed with three , until its original plan i i* was discovered at the time of its excavation in the nineteenth century.) ^s Bramante had good reasons for picking these two in particular, besides the obvious - I - tW aesthetic ones. Firstly, any pagan associations of the Pantheon had long been exorcised since its

I.X conversion to use as a church around 609. Its r^*I; *-* dedication to S. Maria ad commemorates *? . <>t< Martyres S?& the translation there from the of ' remains, probably because circular plans were considered particularly suitable for martyria. It has been suggested that the Pantheon's association rf 0 91 1 with the martyrs, who exemplify the Church Triumphant, explains its use in St Peter's - not only does it serve as a over the grave of the Prince of the Apostles, but it also represents the of the Church, resting on the Pax Fig. 3. A schemefor St Peter'sfrom the Menicantonio de' Romana, the shape of the Temple of Peace. One Chiarelli sketchbook(f. 70v), dark ink with bistre shading, could also add that the Pantheon is the first 210 x 144 cm. Mellon Collection, Washington. temple in Rome to have been converted into a

THE OXFORDARTJOURNAL -JUly 1981 5 *11111*;cliT "1 :t. VUC"

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Fig. 5. Sebastian Vrancx(1573-1647): and Constantine, in pen, ink and wash, 27. 7 x 42.4 cm. DevonshireCollection, Chatsworth. church, thus symbolising even better the triumph Rome, as can be seen on the of Titus, and of the church over paganism. eventually installed in the new Temple of Peace. There were equally good reasons for choosing the Thus, it becomes even more appropriate for use in Temple of Peace. Pliny tells us in his Natural St Peter's, for not only could the dome/Pantheon History (XXXVI, 27) that it was considered one of the be seen as the Church triumphing over, and resting three most beautiful buildings of , on, the achievement of Rome as represented by and other sources also testify to its magnificence, its greatest temple, but that temple itself symbolises which would naturally make it an object worthy the defeat ofJudaism. of imitation. Serlio treats it in his third book Although in St Peter's, as built, the dome bears on Roman buildings, after the Pantheon and S. little similarity to the Pantheon except in size, Costanza, probably reflecting a common Renaissance Maderno's extension to the nave, dating from the belief in the superiority of the circle over other early seventeenth century, ensures that the Temple forms. Peruzzi, in his list of temples recorded on of Peace will not be forgotten, since its plan of a drawing in the Uffizi (Arch. 489r), places it three-bay nave, and entrance is immediately after the Pantheon, while Palladio, clearly based on the Basilica Nova. in his Fourth Book of Architecture, gives it pride It is fortunate that the architects of St Peter's of place. The Temple of Peace was also already believed that the remains of the Basilica Nova associated with the idea of the triumph of belonged to a temple. The resulting interior, with Christendom over paganism through the mediaeval its gilded coffered vaults and revetted with legend that it collapsed on the that Christ , gives us a much better impression of was born. imperial public architecture at its grandest than do The wider dissemination of the in the the surviving stark brick and concrete skeletons sixteenth century discredited this story, by showing of the buildings themselves. It is thus hardly that the Temple of Peace was not actually built surprising that most visitors should complain of its until seventy years or so after the Incarnation. too secular air. To realise, however, that the had founded it to commemorate the makers of St Peter's were profoundly concerned quashing of the Jewish Revolt of 70 A.D., during that it should embody the traditions of the dual which his son, Titus, had razed the Temple of heritage of Christianity - Jewish and Gentile - Jerusalem to the ground. The sacred ornaments and may go some way to compensate for its apparent treasures he found there were brought back to lack of a sacred quality.

6 THE OXFORDARTJOURNAL -JuIY 1981 v

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Fig. 6. Ground plan of Basilica Nova from Sebastiano 3> fl% r Serlio, Tutte le opere di Architettura, , 1584, LJr.t L/> f. 58v. Serlio's reconstructionis reasonablyaccurate exceptfor ^ J^ ~the left-handapse, afeature commonto most pre-nineteenth- ! centuryplans, but which neverexisted. In its place should be a . '$ 7. Plan Bramante's the dome St 7 j FFig. of designfor of Peter's, 5..1: - as recordedin Sebastiano Tutte le di Archi- '|^ U Serlio, opere :'i-~.' tettura, Venice,1584, f. 66r. .3CoJ "3 tl2 Fig. 8. Groundplan of the Pantheon,Rome, from Sebastiano ...... :...... =.= Serlio, Tutte le opere di Architettura, Venice, 1584, Iids tf.51r.

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THE OXFORD ARTJOURNAL -July 1981 7 r o+ ;)l ..,c 33 :F A f$ G Ut Fig. 10. Baldassare Peruzzi: schemefor St Peter's, brown ink and bistre, 19.5 x 19 cm. Architecture19r, Uffizi, r* J? Florence. F 5?"*-?- -% j+ 4 /1 Fig. 9. BaldassarePeruzzi: schemeforSt Peter's, ink, 29 x i.r .,, .esf 19 cm. Architecture17r, Uffizi, Florence.

BibliographicNote: For the inscription in S. Croce in Gerusalemme see I. Lavin, 1965, p.79, and also E. Battisti, ' apocalittica e Re Bernini and the of St Peter's, New York, 1968, pp. 33-5; Salamone', in Rinascimentoe Barocco,, 1960, pp. 72-95. for the Lateran: Descriptio Lateranensis Ecclesiae which is printed The 'parchment plan' and subsequent plans of St Peter's referred in R. Valentini and G. Zuchetti, Codice topografico della citta to are discussed in F. Graf Wolff Metternich, Die Erbauung di Roma, Rome, 1946, vol. 3, p. 335; for solomonic columns der Peterskirchezu Rom im 16. Jahrhundert,, 1971, pt. I. see J. Lees-Milne, St Peter's, London, 1967, p.79; for Pope For the Basilica Nova of Constantine, see B. Platner, Topo- Martin V's restoration: L. Pastor, History of the from graphicaldictionary of Ancient Rome, completed and revised by the Close of the , London, 1923, vol. 1, p. 218. T. Ashby, London, 1929, p.387, and Pastor, op. cit., vol. 6, The comparison of 's rebuilding to that p. 466 for the idea that Bramante's scheme combined the of Solomon: C.W. Westfall, In this Most PerfectParadise, London, Pantheon and the Temple of Peace. On the conversion of the 1974, pp.124-5. Aegidius of Viterbo's address to Pope Julius II Pantheon to a church see W. Buchowiecki, Handbuchder is published by J.W. O'Malley, 'Fulfillment of the Christian KirchenRoms, Vienna, 1970, vol. 2, p. 672, and for its connec- Golden Age under Pope Julius II: text of a discourse of tion with St Peter's because of its association with martyrs, see Giles of Viterbo', Traditio, 25, 1969, pp.265-338, esp. 322-3. P. Murray, 'Observations on Bramante's St Peter's, in Essaysin See P. Portoghesi, Romadel Rinascimento,Venice, vol. I, s.d., p.9, the History of Architecturepresented to ,London, for Julius II's 1513 bull. D. Attwater, Dictionaryof the Popes, 1967, pp. 53-9. The Temple of Peace is included in S. Serlio, London, 1939, p. 28 deals with Julius I; G.F. Hill, A Corpusof II terzolibro di Serlio,nel qual si figuranoe descriuonole antiquitadi Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellini, London, 1930, Roma, Venice, 1540 and A. Palladio, I Quattrolibri di Architettura n.874, p1.139, illustrates the medal probably struck in 1506. For Venice, 1570. Valentini and (op.cit., vol. 4, Rome, the siting of the New St Peter's, Pastor, op.cit., vol. 6, p. 479. 1953, p. 145) quote the mediaeval legend concerning the On the Temple of Jerusalem as a model for St Peter's Temple's collapse. See Platner (op.cit., p. 386) for the see L.D. Ettlinger, The Sistine Chapel beforeMichelangelo, Oxford, .

8 THE OXFORDARTJOURNAL -July 1981