This year the Vatican will mark the 400th anniversary of the consecration of St Peter’s Basilica.
Consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on November 18, 1626, the basilica was 120 years in the making, with construction beginning in 1506. The 23,000 square metre church replaced the Constantinian basilica, which had become significantly outdated, still had a timber roof and had stood for 1,300 years. Bernini’s baldacchino was completed just in time for the 1626 consecration, with Urban VIII marking the date by introducing the feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
