Mary Craven, age 13, of McAllen, Texas, for her question:
WHICH CHRISTIAN CHURCH BUILDING IS THE WORLD'S LARGEST?
Saint Peter's Church in Vatican City is the world's largest Christian church building. It is also called Saint Peter's Basilica.
Saint Peter's is almost 700 feet long and about 450 feet across at its widest point. It is built in the shape of a cross and it is the second church to stand above the crypt or tomb which is believed to contain the body of Saint Peter, the first pope.
The first Saint Peter's, called the Basilica of Constantine, was started by Constantine the Great about 325. He built the church to symbolize his acceptance of Christianity.
The church was modeled on the basilica, a rectangular building used for a meeting hall by the Romans. Four rows of columns, extending almost the length of the church, divided it into a nave with two aisles on either side.
In 1506, Pope Julius II decided to rebuild the church completely. He demolished the original church and only the tomb and a few small details of this church remained.
Rebuilding Saint Peter's took almost 150 years. During this time, 10 different architects worked on the church and changed its design.
The first architect was Donato Bramante. He designed the domed, perfectly symmetrical church in the form of a Greek cross, which is a cross with four arms of equal length. But the nave was lengthened in the 1600s, so that the church took the form of a Latin cross. Only the gigantic scale and dimensions of Bramante's work remain.
The most important architects were Michelangelo and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Michelangelo became the church's architect in the 1540s when he was over 70 years old. He changed Bramante's plan for a balanced and restful dome into a dynamic construction.
Bernini started his work on Saint Peter's in 1623. The building was then dedicated in 1626 by Pope Urban VIII, but other parts were added later.
The dynamic construction Michelangelo selected was to put a drum or ring at the base of the dome that appears to be squeezing the dome and forcing its sides to spring upwards. The magnificent dome rises more than 400 feet from the floor and measures 138 feet in diameter.
The interior of the church is decorated in baroque style. Its most famous features are the work of Bernini, who in addition to being a fine architect was also a great sculptor. He built the elaborate bronze baldacchino or canopy over the main altar, which stands beneath the dome. Marble, gilding and mosaics decorate the walls and ceiling of the church.
Chapels, altars and tombs line the walls of Saint Peter's. Michelangelo's famous sculpture, the Pieta, stands in one of the chapels.
The church was also given its impressive setting by Bernini. From a great distance, the church appears to be set on a stage. An avenue one mile long leads from the Tiber River to the Piazza de San Pietro, or Square of Saint Peter. It is a large open space in front of the church. Double colonnades are arranged in semicircles on two sides of the piazza.
A red granite obelisk or shaft stands 85 feet high on the piazza's center. It was brought to Rome from Egypt about A.D. 37, and was moved to the piazza in 1586.