The story of this place
The largest church in Christendom rose over the tomb of St Peter, crucified nearby around AD 64 and buried in a necropolis beneath the present altar—confirmed by 20th-century excavations. Pope Julius II demolished Constantine's 4th-century basilica and began the new one in 1506; construction spanned 120 years and engaged Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Bernini. Michelangelo designed the soaring 136-metre dome; Bernini created the sweeping colonnade embracing the piazza and the bronze baldachin over the altar. The sale of indulgences to fund it helped ignite Luther's Reformation in 1517. Consecrated in 1626, St Peter's remains the ceremonial heart of the Catholic Church and Vatican City.