San Pietro in Vincoli, Minor basilica in Monti district, Rome, Italy
The basilica features three naves divided by twenty ancient Doric columns made of Greek marble, with frescoes adorning the barrel-vaulted ceiling.
Empress Licinia Eudoxia established the basilica between 432 and 440 AD to preserve the chains that imprisoned Saint Peter in Jerusalem.
The church houses Michelangelo's statue of Moses, completed in 1515, as the centerpiece of Pope Julius II's tomb in the right transept.
The basilica opens daily from 8:00 to 12:30 and 15:00 to 19:00 from April to September, with shorter evening hours until 18:00 from October to March.
Two sets of chains, displayed in a gilded reliquary beneath the main altar, are said to have miraculously fused together when brought before Pope Leo I.
Location: Rome
Inception: 5 century
Founders: Licinia Eudoxia
Architectural style: Renaissance architecture
Length: 70 m
Width: 40 m
Address: piazza San Pietro in Vincoli - Roma
Opening Hours: 08:00-12:30,15:00-18:00; March Sunday[-1]-October Sunday[-1] -1 day 08:00-12:30,15:00-19:00
Website: http://lateranensi.org/sanpietroinvincoli
GPS coordinates: 41.89387,12.49307
Latest update: May 28, 2025 18:31
Rome contains over 900 churches that demonstrate two thousand years of sacred architecture, from Roman antiquity to the Baroque period. These buildings reveal the evolution of construction techniques and artistic expressions over the centuries. St. Peter's Basilica covers 20,000 square meters and features a dome designed by Michelangelo. The Pantheon retains its Roman dome with a 43-meter (141 feet) diameter, the largest ever constructed in unreinforced concrete. Major basilicas such as Santa Maria Maggiore showcase Byzantine mosaics from the 5th century beneath a Renaissance ceiling with gilded coffers. Saint Clement's Basilica in the Lateran overlays three levels of construction from the 1st to the 12th centuries, illustrating Rome's urban stratification. Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the city's oldest churches, presents medieval gilded mosaics, while Saint Peter's in Chains houses Michelangelo's Moses. These monuments help understand how Rome shaped European religious architecture for over fifteen centuries.
Moses
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Domus Aurea
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Tomb of Pope Julius II
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Santa Maria ai Monti
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Domus Aurea
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Porticus of Livia
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San Lorenzo in Fonte (Rome)
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Santa Maria ad nives
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The Seven Halls
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Palazzo Passarini Falletti
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Santa Maria del Buon Consiglio
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Palazzo Cimarra
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Church of San Salvatore ai Monti
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Santa Maria della Concezione ai Monti
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Santa Maria ad Busta Gallica
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Santa Maria inter Duo
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Santa Maria della Concezione dei Sacconi Turchini
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San Giovanni in Carapullo
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Santa Maria de Ferrariis
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Torre Annibaldi (Rome)
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