The last post from Rome

We have been very busy since we came to Rome but have just scratched the surface of all there is to see here. This post will highlight some of the places we have seen.

Our first glimpse of St. Peter'sBasilica

St. Peter's Basilica, the largest Catholic church in the world was started in 1526 and consecrated in 1626. It is built over the burial place of St. Peter, the first Pope.

 

The Baslica is built at the top of St.Peter's Square which is formed by two colonades with statues of saints at the top.

In the Square there is a plaque showing the spot where Pope John Paul was shot.

There are always people either lined up to go in or just coming out of the church.

 

The Holy Door which is only opened every 25 years to allow pilgrims to enter.

This church is huge and the scale is almost impossible to realize even when you are there.

Michelangelo's Pieta, done when he was in his 20s depicting Mary and Jesus.

Don by the remains of Pope John Paul which are in a very simple coffin.

The massive altar

Lots of gold everywhere

 

The view of the square from the porch of the church, quiet an impressive visit here.

But so many other sites to see....The Pantheon, the best preserved building from Roman times.It is now a church where the bodies of many of the early martyrs are buried.

 

It was quite amazing to think this was rebuilt in 126AD by the Emperor Hadrian and is in such great shape.

Then there is the Coliseum which is the largest amphitheatre in the world and buillt in only ten years from 70-80AD using thousands of slaves. It was considered to be one of the great engineering feats of its' time and even today is hard to believe how it was built.

 

 

 

The theatre was used for gladiatorial events, public spectacles and was even flooded to have warship battles. It seated up to 80,000 people. When we were there it was easy to imagine the cheers of the crowd and the roars of the lions.

A view from the top level where the women and lower classes were allowed.

These are a reconstruction of the marble seats where the Emperor and associates would sit.

Here you can also see part of the reconstruction of the floor which was made of sand to absorb the blood and had trap doors through which the gladiators and animals would pop up. There was a lot of theatre involved in producing the games.

 

The underground would house the animals, gladiators and slaves who were involved in the matches. There was a tunnel that would run from the residences of the gladiators and slaves as they would not be allowed in the free world.

A Christian cross to commemorate the Christians who were killed there.

Original brick work from 7th century.

Just down the via are the Imperial forums which were the center of Roman life, business and religion.They are not as well preserved as over the centuries the building materials were recycled for other building projects around Rome.

Blocks of marble are lying around the grounds.

Walking through this section of Rome definitely felt like we were walking through history.

 

Our final day we went underground to see some of the layers of history that Rome is built on. We visited San Clemente church which was built in the 12th century but due to running water keeping the priest awake he started digging to see where it originated and discovered three more layers dating back to 1AD

 

 

The 12th century church today.

We literally walked down through layers of churches built one on the other, here is the 2nd century church.

We also visited the Catacombs where both the Pagans and Christians buried their dead as they were not permitted to bury them in the city. Again there are layers upon layers of tombs, the one we visited was over 17 acres. Here you can see the holes in the walls where they buried the dead.

We then visited a church where the monks have used the bones of their brethern to decorate a number of rooms...

The skull room, yes they are real skulls.

Decoration on one of the ceilings,a very creative use of bones!

So our trip has come to an end and as we reflect on the last 7 weeks there were so many highlights and wonderful experiences. Switzerland and Italy are both countries we would like to revisit,but with so much on our list we don't know when that might be. So we are happy that we got to the opportunity to enjoy them now.

Our last picture from Rome...

 

 

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Vatican City...the religious center of Rome

We have spent some time over the week at Vatican City, the site of St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's Square, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums.

Vatican City is not very big, the smallest city state in the world but it attracts the largest number of people who visit Rome and we saw that on our first visit there.

 

Before I left home I bought tickets to the Papal Audience which is held in St. Peter's Square every Wednesday when the Pope is in Rome. It was quite the event!

There are 30,000 tickets given for a seat and the rest of the people stand.Here I am wondering where we will sit.

Here was the line when we got there at 7:15am.

The view across the square from our seats.

A picture of the square from the large tv screens at the front. There were 80,000 people in the square and on the surrounding streets. According to our guide the numbers here are growing every week since the election of this new Pope. His predecessor only drew about 8000 on average to a Papal Audience.

There was a lot of excitement in the air and the program started with names of church and then school groups who were visiting from all over the world. As their names were called there would be much cheering...

A group ahead of us from Philadelphia

This man wrapped in his flag was part of a group from Brazil...

 

Women from Nigeria...

Buddhist monks...

Brides and grooms who were being personally blessed by the Pope, apparently if you have been married in the last 3 months and come to Rome you can request a Papal blessing. We saw many couples going past us to the front.

And Don with his Papa Francesco flag....

Then the Pope arrived in his mobile car and started his trip around the Square...

There were lots of security around him but their job must be difficult as he stopped to chat with the crowd, took sips of people's drinks and took pictures with them. The crowd went crazy shouting and waving.

He also kissed a lot of babies...

We were sitting next to the barricades as he started to come up our pathway so he went right by us...

This is the best picture I got as he was within a few feet of us, unfortunately my camera has a grain of sand in the lens that only appears sometimes.This time it looks like the Pope has a black eye! But I like his smile!!

The rest of the program continues after everyone reaches the main stage and the Pope gives his message in many languages.

He then blesses everyone, their families, those who are sick and any religious items that people brought with them.

It ends with everyone standing saying the Lord's Prayer.

Don really appreciated being in attendance and I enjoyed the experience as well.

The next day we visited the huge Vatican Museums which was another experience given the huge crowds and the vastness of the place.

There are many rooms of wonderful art work, this one of centuries old frescos which were very detailed and colorful.

Masterpieces by Raphael

 

 

Fabulous tapestries

Many inner courtyards with modern art installations.

Corridors of ancient sculptures and many people

A wonderful Bernini staircase that was built so the Popes could climb to the top of the Papal apartments on horseback.

The place also had wonderful ceilings.

Intricate mosaics on the floors

I loved the modern art as well.

Then there was the Sistine Chapel with the ceiling by Michelangelo...

The beautiful walls. ( Both these pictures were taken from the internet as no photos allowed.)

So much art work in one place and that continued into St. Peter's but those pictures are for my next post. Rome is turning out to be a nicer city than we imagined.

 

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