St. Peters Square and Plaza

Touring the Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel

I had the great pleasure on touring the Vatican, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel. I wanted to give you just a glimpse of what you might see, if you were to visit the Holy See in Vatican City, Rome, Italy. Obviously, any tour of the Vatican is best in person. If you cannot go there, because of limitations on your time, your health or pocketbook, then a tour with pictures is perhaps the second best approach to seeing the Vatican and all the beauty and splendor that it has to offer. The third and less desirable approach to a tour of the Vatican is to do so in your imagination through the words of another, such as this article and this website.

Therefore, the website is entitled Pictures of the Vatican City, Rome, Italy, and its subtitle is "Inside the Vatican Museum, The Sistine Chapel, St Peters Basilica, and more." Since pictures are worth a thousand words, we will intersperse these words with a lot of good quality pictures of Vatican City, the Vatican City Museum, and the Sistine Chapel. We are all very familiar with television pictures of the vast public area or square in front of the Vatican – usually filled with throngs of the Catholic faithful on various important annual events such as Easter.

As the picture above indicates there are few people present in the early morning to appreciate the beauty of the Vatican without having to navigate through a throng of tourists and the faithful. Here is a picture of the St. Peter's Square at the middle end of the spectrum from the standpoint of people. This scene has the look of a typical day. Notice the not just the people crowding around the fountain in the center of this picture, but also the crowd that has formed in front of the massive Doric columns to the right side. They are waiting to enter the main St. Peter's Basilica, where we will be going in a moment, after we get a sense of the front of the Vatican.

Now, before we enter the sanctuary of St. Peter's Basilica, let use take one more look at the plaza on a holy day when the Pope was present. This picture was taken in St. Peters Square on Palm Sunday. It shows the Cardinals in procession and the large surrounding crowds.

While the plaza and exterior of St. Peter's Basilica has been witness to the ebb and flow of humanity for centuries, the interior of the sanctuary is even more spectacular in my opinion than the massive and impressive exterior facade. In the next part of this brief tour we will discuss entering St. Peter's Basilica and the impressiveness of its tremendous scale and beauty.

Tags: vatican museum, mass, Vatican City, Saint

Patron Saint

• The Sistine Chapel (The Restored Sistine Chapel Ceiling )
• Vatican Swiss Guards (Vatican City’s Swiss Guards >> )
• St. Patrick (If you pick any Saint Patrick picture below, you will go to another webpage which has what you need to know to buy these discounted plus attractive catholic religious products. We hope you like our catholic gifts and religious medals store salesroom. We help you quickly locate the catholic gifts and patron saint medals choices [...])
• St. Matthew Medal (After you select a Saint Matthew snapshot lower down, you will go to another webpage which has all of the details you need to purchase these bargain priced and attractive catholic religious merchandise. We hope you like our catholic gifts and religious medals store salesroom. Here you can locate easily the catholic gifts and patron [...])
• Michelangelo’s Statues of Moses and David (See Michelangelo's Moses at the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains > [Note that if you are only interested in a tour of the Vatican in Rome, Italy, and if Michelangelo's Pieta has not prompted you to want to view more of Michelangelo's sculpture in Rome, then you can just skip this article and move to the [...])
• Saint Rose Medal (If you pick any Saint Rose photo underneath, this action will open another webpage with all of the details you need to get these wonderful and attractive catholic religious products. We hope you like our catholic gifts and religious medals preview showroom. Here you can locate easily the catholic gifts and patron saint medals choices [...])
• Saint Joan of Arc (If you pick any Saint Joan of Arc picture below, we will take you to a different web page where you will find what you need to know to purchase these bargain priced and high quality catholic religious products. Thanks for coming to our catholic gifts and religious medals preview showroom. Here you can locate [...])
• St. Elizabeth (When you click any Saint Elizabeth picture below, this action will open a different web page which has all of the details you need to buy these discounted plus high quality catholic religious merchandise. Thanks for coming to our catholic gifts and religious medals preview showroom. We help you quickly locate the catholic gifts and [...])
• St. Rita of Cascia (As you choose a Saint Rita photo underneath, we will take you to an additional page with what you need to know to get these wonderful and attractive catholic religious products. Welcome to this catholic gifts and religious medals preview showroom. Here you can locate easily the catholic gifts and patron saint medals things that [...])
• St. Peters Square and Plaza (Touring the Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel Go forward to Part 2: Entering St. Peter's Basilica >>> I had the great pleasure on touring the Vatican, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel. I wanted to give you just a glimpse of what you might see, if you were to visit the Holy [...])