OUR TRIP TO ITALY APRIL 2007 - ST PETER'S SQUARE

After St Peter's Basilica, where we took a photo of Pope John XX 's body and tomb, we landed in St Peter's Square. It was just after Easter and there were still lots of chairs in the Square where the Easter Sunday Mass was held. We were able to see the buildings that surround the Square and the famous Egyptian obelisk in the centre. The Vatican Obelisk is the only obelisk in Rome that has not toppled since Roman times. it was brought to Rome by Caligula in 38BC from the town of Heliopolis, on the Nile Delta.
St Peter's Square is the large public square outside St Peter's Basilica, which is considered the greatest church on Earth. The square is actually round, with the perimeter marked by two huge colonnades. The roofs of these colonnades are supported by four rows of Doric columns 60-feet tall. The ellipse symbolizes Saint Peter's, the mother church of Christianity, embracing the world. The obelisk is flanked by two fountains, and halfway between the fountains and the obelisk are stone circles in the ground. If you stand on one of the circles, you can see an optical illusion -- the four rows of 60-foot tall pillars forming the colonnade disappear behind each other and look like a single row. The piazza has to be large to accommodate the throngs that show up at noon on Sundays and several other times each week to hear the Pope say mass and to receive his blessing. As it is now, the square can handle about 300,000 people but has been known to pack in more. The Pope delivers his blessing from a library window overlooking the square.
There is also a Souvenier shop which sells Catholic books, crosses, rosaries and other souveniers to worshippers and tourists. The prices were very reasonable.